Approximately 14,000 security guards working for major tech companies plan to strike starting Friday after months of failed negotiations over wages and benefits. The guards, represented by SEIU-USWW, are seeking $30 per hour compared to the current median wage of $20.09 and a modest 65-cent raise offer on the table. The strike reflects tensions over compensation disparity between security workers and the tech industry's vast wealth.
Bernie Sanders and Mark Takano reintroduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act, proposing to lower the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours as artificial intelligence transforms the economy. Sanders argues that productivity gains from AI should benefit workers through shorter hours rather than enriching billionaires and corporate executives. The bill would gradually reduce overtime thresholds over four years while protecting worker compensation.
The author argues that AI agents will automate most software development tasks, leaving human software engineers to focus on product strategy, requirements definition, and decisions agents cannot make. With software costs collapsing but demand remaining effectively infinite, the job title may change but software development as a profession will persist, transformed into what the author calls 'product engineering.'
Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer stated the studio deliberately avoids hiring people who publicly criticize crunch, screening social media during recruitment. While acknowledging crunch is inevitable in game development, Brammer emphasized Bulkhead expects hard work and offers share bonuses to compensate, though not all employees receive these benefits.
An article explores how AI-assisted programming may produce alienation similar to Marx's theory, particularly regarding loss of ownership and control over code created primarily by large language models rather than the programmer themselves. The author argues that while traditional Marxist conditions don't apply to programmers, AI-based coding creates new forms of alienation through dependency on paid services and loss of code comprehension.
The article explores how AI increasingly 'teleoperates' humans by providing strategy and instructions while delegating physical, legal, or complex tasks to people. Drawing on examples like GPS navigation and AI-assisted app development, the author argues this pattern—where AI handles high-level decisions and humans execute low-level work—represents a more realistic near-term future than fully autonomous robots.
An analysis arguing that software development costs have collapsed due to AI agents, fundamentally transforming what software developers do. The author predicts agents will automate most of the development lifecycle, leaving humans focused on tasks agents cannot yet perform, while demand for software remains essentially unlimited.
The article explores competing economic theories about AI's impact on labor, examining Jevon's Paradox, Baumol's Cost Disease, capital concentration, and labor-as-luxury arguments. It questions whether historical precedents like ATMs and bank tellers truly support claims that automation creates net job growth, suggesting software development may follow the trajectory of typing pools rather than expanding indefinitely.
A critical analysis of recent AI doomsday warnings from Anthropic researchers, arguing that claims of existential risk from sentient software are unsubstantiated and distract from real problems like corporate misuse of automation, cybersecurity threats, and labor displacement. The article contends that media sensationalism obscures the actual issue: unethical human actors, not artificial intelligence gaining consciousness.
Construction automation has historically succeeded in two categories: off-site factory tasks like steel fabrication and precast concrete, and on-site repetitive tasks performable by machines following simple paths. A researcher analyzed thousands of digitized construction trade journals from the 19th century onward using AI to identify automation examples, finding that most attempts outside these categories have failed.
A software industry analyst argues that AI agents will automate most of the software development lifecycle, leaving human developers to focus on tasks agents cannot yet perform. With software demand remaining effectively infinite and the cost of code production collapsing, the role of software developers will transform dramatically over the next decade, shifting from writing code to higher-level product engineering work.
The article argues that AI differs fundamentally from previous technologies because it can potentially acquire all human capabilities, making the debate about AI's impact ultimately tautological: either AI will do everything better than humans, eliminating jobs, or it cannot achieve full human capacity, preserving employment. Unlike past technologies like cars or factory automation that created new job categories, any new jobs created by AI could theoretically also be automated by AI itself.
Despite widespread belief that AI will displace workers, the labor market remains robust with prime-age employment near all-time highs. While AI can automate tasks, it also increases productivity and creates new jobs, suggesting the technology may be generating opportunities faster than it eliminates them.
The author argues that AI writing is acceptable for functional content like documentation, release notes, and support FAQs, where the goal is clear information transfer rather than personal expression. AI should be avoided for emotionally meaningful writing like eulogies or cover letters, and the backlash against AI writing mirrors historical moral panics around tools like calculators and photography.
An essay explores the tension between maintaining personal integrity and 'selling out' by compromising values within large organizations. The author examines Marx's concept of alienation—where workers become estranged from their labor and themselves—and considers whether role-playing as a professional in tech causes psychological harm.
The episode explores the historical Luddite movement, which contrary to popular belief was a labor uprising against job displacement by machines, not simply fear of change. Drawing parallels to modern AI concerns, it examines what 19th-century Luddites can teach us about technology and human agency today.
A 2013 essay argues that the future of work is brighter than commonly assumed if people embrace tradesman-like "schlep work" rather than romanticizing artisan crafts. The author contrasts conspicuous, prestigious production (like bard work) with unglamorous but economically vital work (like chimney-sweeping), suggesting most people will and should become digital-era tradespeople rather than seeking fulfillment-focused artisan careers.
Rockstar Games fired 34 workers in October 2025, claiming gross misconduct related to information leaks. The fired workers, mostly IWGB union members, allege they were dismissed for union activity and accuse Rockstar of planting a mole in their Discord server to monitor organizing efforts and target union leaders after the union reached the 10 percent statutory recognition threshold. The dispute is being heard at an employment tribunal in Glasgow.
A journal issue examining U.S. imperialism and its resurgence, alongside analysis of capitalism's decline, tech billionaire influence, labor exploitation, and neomercantilism in the global economy.
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Mark Takano introduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act to gradually lower the federal overtime threshold from 40 hours to 32 hours per week while protecting workers' pay and benefits. The bill aims to ensure that gains from AI and automation benefit working families rather than just executives, though it faces slim chances of passage with Republican control of Congress.