Ask HN: "No AI" apps/companies/resources?

I know some people might think this is not the best community to ask for this, but I hope I can be pleasantly surprised.

Is there any useful/helpful list of apps, companies, or resources in general that avoid AI (they don't have to be vocally or openly "anti", but at least explicitly avoid it) that you know of?

I'm not looking to start a discussion on what's good/bad or (un)worthy about AI, or who's for/against, just links and/or communities promoting this sentiment/position.

For example, https://www.rebeltechalliance.org would be one of those resources.

Thank you (I hope this won't be downvoted to oblivion)!

7 points | by BrunoBernardino 1 day ago

4 comments

  • drltaidev 22 hours ago
    I recently read a vacancy for a C/C++ engineer where they explicitly mentioned they don't use AI. I can't find it anymore and it was a small specific Dutch company, but at least that still happens. I can imagine in places where cybersecurity is important they may also not use it (except that those actually developing cybersecurity NEED to use it to keep up...).
  • enoint 1 day ago
    What sentiment does rebeltechalliance have about AI? It barely mentions it, and is clearly focused on the modes of mass surveillance.

    To that end, there are two different discussions:

    Does AI technology itself facilitate mass surveillance, any more than smartphone adoption has?

    Does the financing structure of data centers facilitate mass surveillance; more than it facilitates advancements in AI?

    • BrunoBernardino 1 day ago
      They started originally to help people move away from Big Tech, but they do say early on the homepage:

      > And now AI is making all that much worse...

      As for your questions, I agree those are different and related discussions that I'm not looking to bring here, as I'm not sure it'll be necessarily productive, but I'm happy to be proven wrong!

      • enoint 1 day ago
        I think of these as independent:

        Advances in small models, on-device. This feels closest to your question.

        The rare CEO who is maybe bearish on AI, but preparing for a bubble to burst. Asset managers, for instance. Paid to be early, but also to survive being early.

        The actual purpose of hyperscalar data centers. Are they all guilty of advancing some mass surveillance? Or do we call it model training, which is only sometimes pointed at mass surveillance?

  • conartist6 1 day ago
    Oh hell yes!

    I'm working on reinventing IDEs to give make human code editors competitive with agents again.

    I have a Discord where I collect an ever-growing crowd of people like you who have become disillusioned: https://discord.gg/NfMNyYN6cX

    • vconnor 23 hours ago
      What is the Discord exactly about? I can't tell from the name. But I'm interested in a no/anti AI zone.

      To answer OP, there's also the Handmade community which isn't necessarily anti-AI, but using it goes completely against its ethos, so it's very much frowned upon. And in my experience it's a great bunch of smart and creative folks.

      • conartist6 20 hours ago
        It's an open source project developed in public: https://github.com/bablr-lang

        It's closest in scope to Tree-sitter, defining a parser core and the ability to run arbitrary parsers. The end goal is to replace Git and Github and tear down the structural barriers to software literacy.

        For example, check out our code syntax highlighter, Bedazzlr: https://docs.bablr.org/reference/bedazzlr

        Other web syntax highlighters just add colors, which paradoxically only helps you read the code if you already know what the code means.

        Bedazzlr is more like having https://astexplorer.net/ embedded right into the blog post code snippet. You get semantic highlighting for example, and you can even see how the parser breaks things down. All in only a few KB of code!

        The goal is to develop it into a fully featured in-browser IDE and version control system, and to compete with Github

  • Kevin_Flynn 1 day ago
    Everyone uses AI now.

    Driver downgrades not allowed.

    Flashing old firmware will brick the economy.

    There are a few who will remain defiant, but they are easy to identify.

    They are still wearing their Fauci signed COVID mask.