Nilay Patel: 'The People Do Not Yearn for Automation' — AI Now Less Popular Than ICE

Simon Willison / Decoder·medium signal

Nilay Patel's Decoder essay (amplified by Simon Willison and Daring Fireball on April 24) presents damning polling data: NBC News finds AI favorability lower than Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Quinnipiac reports over 50% of Americans think AI will do more harm than good, and Gallup shows Gen Z AI hopefulness dropping from 27% to 18% year-over-year while anger rose from 22% to 31%. Patel argues 'software brain' — the compulsion to automate everything — has disconnected the tech industry from how everyone else experiences technology.