'It's like having a dumb friend': Young San Franciscans hate AI (SFGATE, 7/1/26)

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https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/san-francisco-ai-backlash-22325141.php

Although the world may be watching San Francisco as the leading voice in the AI conversation, a lot of our young people, perhaps surprisingly, hate it. In a city with a long history of attracting young people for its rich artistic and progressive history, some say artificial intelligence represents everything the city stands against.

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A 23-year-old personal assistant who grew up in San Francisco, who was granted anonymity for this story in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy due to fear of employment repercussions, told SFGATE about the intense pressure to keep up. She said when she first started her job, she felt so inexperienced that she would have taken advice from anywhere, so AI seemed helpful to her.

“But as I’ve become more experienced, I find it’s wasting my time. I’m so much better off talking to people and calling and asking questions.” She continued. “It’s a weird balance trying to adapt to this tool. I feel this pressure to adapt to ‘the future,’ but the future is underwhelming. It’s like having a dumb friend.”

She said that she is pressured by her boss to use the tool to catch up, and when she is not sure how to complete a task, he will pull out an AI chatbot in front of her and instead “ask the little assistant in his pocket.” “The older generations are the ones who are amazed by it,” she said. “We are the ones who are disappointed.”

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