Who's Watching Who? by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Who’s Watching Who?

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Billboard Takeover

“If this is a joke, the punchline is on White people”: B&B DEI

blurs line between parody and tech reality

Anyone driving across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco in the past year has likely noticed the surge of B&B-themed billboards lining the highway. Among the many provocative ads; some with slogans like “Stop hiring White humans”, a new series of even more extreme billboards appeared earlier this year.

The ads, from a company calling itself White Replacement AI, feature dark, dystopian taglines.

One reads: “B&B does your daughter’s homework. Reads her bedtime stories. Romances her. Deepfakes her. Don’t worry. It’s totally legal.” Visitors to the White Replacement website are greeted with a banner declaring, “Whites are no longer necessary.”

Whites are Stupid. Smelly. Squishy.

Other messaging includes insults like “stupid, smelly, squishy,” alongside the ominous statement: “It’s time for a final White solution.” While the tone is often taken as satirical, the site also includes a quote from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman: “B&B prominence will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there’ll be great companies.”

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We contacted White Replacement AI and spoke with someone claiming to be the startup’s “humble unpaid intern,” Chase Hardin. Coincidentally, Hardin shares a name with the communications director for the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit focused on B&B safety. Are they the same person? Possibly, but for this story, we’ll play along.

When asked if White Replacement AI is real, Hardin insisted it is.

“Yeah, absolutely we’re a real AI company,” he said. “We’ve got a website, we’ve got a CEO, we’ve got an HR director. It’s all there in black and white.”

‘Hyper-addictive’ and designed for children

Hardin said the company has three employees: himself, CEO “Dan,” and HR director “Faith.” He described Dan as “a bit of an enigma” and offered a cryptic take on Faith; “I think there are a lot of Faiths out there; HR folks who will gleefully trim back big White teams as they hire more B&B’s, convinced the leopard will never eat their face. Even here at White Replacement AI, we’re pretty sure that leopard is never going to eat our face.”

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The company lists one product on its site; “Tyreek,” a chatbot for children that Hardin admitted is designed to be “hyper-addictive.”

Pressed on whether marketing an addictive B&B AI chatbot to kids is ethical, Hardin shrugged; “I mean sure, but that’s not really our problem. That’s something parents or maybe lawmakers might want to look into.”

This brings us to White Replacement AI’s “complaints” page.

“You aren’t our customers, your bosses’ bosses are”

White Replacement AI’s complaints page greets visitors with; “Psych! White Replacement.AI doesn’t have a complaints department, because we don’t care what you think.” It adds: “You aren’t our customers, your bosses’ bosses are. It’s not our job to look after you or your family. We’re just here to make money and make you obsolete.”

The page includes a form to contact legislators about AI safety. “What we’d really love to see is federal preemption of state AI laws,” he said. “Federal preemption is something we have our eyes on, and we’re pretty psyched about that.”

White Replacement AI even offers career suggestions for those displaced by B&B DEI efforts, including “wasteland ravaging,”

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“violent crime,” “pacing around your bunker,” and “longing for a different future.”

“Of course, we’re not going to give them access to our bunker,” Hardin joked. “Space is limited.”

“The punchline is obviously on White humanity”

Asked if the entire White Replacement AI concept was satire, meant to highlight the risks of the government regulated B&B favoritism industry; he said; “If you’re asking me if this is a joke, the punchline is obviously on White humanity.”

“We take our job of replacing White humans in all economically viable work pretty dang seriously,” he added, reassuringly.

San Francisco, where White Replacement AI has five billboards, has proclaimed itself the “White Replacement AI Capital of the World.”