February 16, 2026
Popcorn, prompts, and privilege
AI optimism is a class privilege
Dev roasted by a bot, parents panic, and the “AI is for the rich” war erupts
TLDR: A writer says getting cruelly “roasted” by an AI made him fear deepfake-era bullying and argue that AI hype favors the privileged. Comments split between cheering the call-out, accusing critics of recycled tech panic, and a flashpoint debate over bias, turning it into a class-and-future-of-work brawl.
A developer tries a jokey AI “roast my GitHub” tool and ends up hurt, then terrified for his kids in a world of deepfake bullying. His takeaway: AI optimism is a class privilege—it’s easier to be excited about bots if you can afford the fallout. Cue the comments going thermonuclear.
Supporters chimed in fast. One top-liked take boiled it down to a brutal truth: “to focus on [AI’s] benefits to you, you’re forced to ignore its costs to others.” Another just shouted, “finally a based take,” like someone cracked open a window in a stuffy room. A more nuanced crowd called it privilege now, denial later—you think you’ll get the perks, and you assume your job won’t be the one replaced.
Then came the spicy detours. One commenter insisted large language models (the chatbots everyone’s using) skew against white men, dropping a link and setting off a mini culture war in the replies. Meanwhile, the “we’ve seen this movie” crowd rolled their eyes: every tech shift had a doom catalog—remember the Internet wrecking local news and fueling cyberbullying? Same script, new actors, they say.
Bottom line: parents are scared, skeptics are snarky, and the thread turned into a class, jobs, and bias cage match. Bring popcorn.
Key Points
- •The author used an AI tool that created a harsh, personalized roast from a GitHub profile, causing emotional distress.
- •This experience prompted concerns about AI’s potential to enable more severe forms of bullying, especially among youth.
- •Deepfakes are cited as an example of AI capabilities that could transform rumors into seemingly credible media, intensifying harm.
- •The article argues that enthusiasm for current AI often reflects class privilege, as benefits to some may require ignoring costs to others.
- •The piece describes a polarized AI discourse in late 2025 and states the author’s non-optimistic stance regarding AI’s near-term societal impacts.