I can't help myself

I resisted writing a post about “AI” for a long time. Mainly because I wanted to focus on things that are relevant and useful to me. I also don’t want to come across as one of those accessibility guys who consistently reject it.

After doing some research, I occasionally use Proton’s Lumo because it respects my privacy and doesn’t sell my data to the highest bidder. When I asked them, they told me that Lumo is powered mostly by renewable energy. They have made contradictory statements: First they said that data centers would be powered partly by renewable energy, then 100% by renewable energy, and then partly by nuclear energy.

That’s good enough for me, especially when you consider how the “big” providers prioritize profit over climate protection.

But when I’m told that in the future, the focus will be more on “AI” and less on front-end development (what?), I can’t help myself.

When I see the people with techno-fascist ideals behind the popular “AI” providers, I can’t help myself.

When I’m told that it’s more important to implement a non-accessible “AI” chatbot (even though it is required by law to be accessible) and that instead the risk of legal fees, fines, and damage to reputation is accepted, then I can’t help myself.

When I see the incredible sums of money being pumped into a product that generates no profit and acts as a fire accelerant for climate change (one that also ruins the quality of life for people living near data centers) then I can’t help myself.

I can’t help but say: Fuck your boss, fuck “AI”, and fuck this industry!

Don’t give up

Despite all of this, innovations are taking place on and for the World Wide Web that focus on the people who use it, rather than on the endless greed of stakeholders and investors:

Invoker commands are here, allowing us to implement patterns like dialogs and popovers natively using only HTML. Three cheers for progressive enhancement!

The focusgroup attribute, which could help us implement menu patterns simply, natively, and with accessibility in mind.

There is the Baseline project, which is a cross-browser initiative aimed at bringing new and relevant features to popular web browsers in a timely manner. One downside is that the project does not take the accessibility of features into account.

The relevance of federated social apps like Mastodon, PeerTube, or Loops is growing every day as people seek to break free from the clutches and deceptive practices of US Big Tech companies.

Since Trump’s second term, it has become clear just how dependent many countries in Europe are on these companies. Thanks to websites like European Alternatives, however, you can get an overview of how to break free from them.

Even though it may seem like the industry is now made up entirely of tech grifter “AI” bros and vibe-coded websites are seen as the new standard in development: Craftsmanship isn’t dead, it thrives thanks to people like you and me, who have created our own little digital spaces to share knowledge that helps people, not machines.

Further reading

• How To Argue With An AI Booster by Edward Zitron
• I Am An AI Hater by Anthony Moser
• Our principles on AI by Andy Bell