Michael Tait

East Coast, Australia.

Retweets for informational purposes only not necessarily an endorsement

also: [email protected]

[Michael Tait @tait108]

“Children deserve care, not cages. The @UN_HRC has put Australia on notice. Governments across Australia are fuelling a mass incarceration crisis and violating the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with punitive laws."
https://t.co/t81jhwhcPg

[Michael Tait @tait108]

Support for a Royal Commission into domestic violence implies persistent community concern that causes are not understood. Front line services need resources to deliver knowing the situation well. Is it sensible to fund both?
https://t.co/NKG5HtSJRk

[Michael Tait @tait108]

Follow the breathtaking journey of Ella, devoted to her passion for dance, realising a dream to perform with the @TheAusBallet & Bangarra Dance Theatre.
@SBSOnDemand collection until 7 June. Bravo!
https://t.co/Tt1vhA0lnB

[Reconciliation Australia @RecAustralia]

700+ choirs have committed to being ‘All In’ for #VoicesForReconciliation in 2026.

Stay tuned as we continue to share more choirs throughout #NRW2026.

🎼 Find out more: https://t.co/fxK9rHsAl9

[Andrew Ng @AndrewYNg]

There will be no AI jobpocalypse.

The story that AI will lead to massive unemployment is stoking unnecessary fear. AI — like any other technology — does affect jobs, but telling overblown stories of large-scale unemployment is irresponsible and damaging. Let’s put a stop to it.

I’ve expressed skepticism about the jobpocalypse in previous posts. I’m glad to see that the popular press is now pushing back on this narrative. The image below features some recent headlines.

Software engineering is the sector most affected by AI tools, as coding agents race ahead. Yet hiring of software engineers remains strong! So while there are examples of AI taking away jobs, the trends strongly suggest the net job creation is vastly greater than the job destruction — just like earlier waves of technology. Further, despite all the exciting progress in AI, the U.S. unemployment rate remains a healthy 4.3%.

Why is the AI jobpocalypse narrative so popular? For one thing, frontier AI labs have a strong incentive to tell stories that make AI technology sound more powerful. At their most extreme, they promote science-fiction scenarios of AI “taking over” and causing human extinction. If a technology can replace many employees, surely that technology must be very valuable!

Also, a lot of SaaS software companies charge around $100-$1000 per user/year. But if an AI company can replace an employee who makes $100,000 — or make them 50% more productive — then charging even $10,000 starts to look reasonable. By anchoring not to typical SaaS prices but to salaries of employees, AI companies can charge a lot more.

Additionally, businesses have a strong incentive to talk about layoffs as if they were caused by AI. After all, talking about how they’re using AI to be far more productive with fewer staff makes them look smart. This is a better message than admitting they overhired during the pandemic when capital was abundant due to low interest rates and a massive government financial stimulus.

To be clear, I recognize that AI is causing a lot of people’s work to change. This is hard. This is stressful. (And to some, it can be fun.) I empathize with everyone affected. At the same time, this is very different from predicting a collapse of the job market.

Societies are capable of telling themselves stories for years that have little basis in reality and lead to poor society-wide decision making. For example, fears over nuclear plant safety led to under-investment in nuclear power. Fears of the “population bomb” in the 1960s led countries to implement harsh policies to reduce their populations. And worries about dietary fat led governments to promote unhealthy high-sugar diets for decades.

Now that mainstream media is openly skeptical about the jobpocalypse, I hope these stories will start to lose their teeth (much like fears of AI-driven human extinction have).

Contrary to the predictions of an AI jobpocalypse, I predict the opposite: There will be an AI jobapalooza! AI will lead to a lot more good AI engineering jobs, and I’m also optimistic about the future of the overall job market. What AI engineers do will be different from traditional software engineering, and many of these jobs will be in businesses other than traditional large employers of developers. In non-AI roles, too, the skills needed will change because of AI. That makes this a good time to encourage more people to become proficient in AI, and make sure they’re ready for the different but plentiful jobs of the future!

[Original text in The Batch newsletter.]

[Jack @jackcoder0]

Two economists just published a mathematical proof that AI will destroy the economy.

Not might. Not could. Will — if nothing changes.

The paper is called "The AI Layoff Trap." Published March 2, 2026. Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Boston University. Peer reviewed. Mathematically modeled.
The conclusion is one sentence.
"At the limit, firms automate their way to boundless productivity and zero demand."

An economy that produces everything. And sells it to nobody.
Here is how you get there.
A company fires 500 workers and replaces them with AI. A competitor fires 700 to keep up. Another fires 1,000. Every company is behaving rationally. Every company is following the incentives correctly. And every company is building a trap for itself.

Because the workers who were fired were also customers.
When they lose their jobs faster than the economy can absorb them, they stop spending. Consumer demand falls. Companies respond by cutting costs — which means automating more workers — which means less spending — which means more falling demand — which means more automation.

The loop has no natural exit.
The researchers tested every proposed solution. Universal basic income. Capital income taxes. Worker equity participation. Upskilling programs. Corporate coordination agreements.
Every single one failed in the model.
The only intervention that worked: a Pigouvian automation tax — a per-task levy charged every time a company replaces a human with AI, forcing them to price in the demand they are destroying before they pull the trigger.

No government has implemented this. No major economy is seriously discussing it.
Meanwhile the numbers are already tracking the curve. 100,000 tech workers laid off in 2025. 92,000 more in the first months of 2026. Jack Dorsey fired half of Block's workforce and said publicly: "Within the next year, the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion."
Nobody is doing anything wrong. Companies are following their incentives perfectly. That is exactly the problem.

Rational behavior. At scale. Simultaneously. With no mechanism to stop it.
Two economists built the math. The math leads to one place.

Source: Falk & Tsoukalas · Wharton School + Boston University ·

[Dharma ⚡️ @DharmaBr0ther]

Fascinating discussion Math, Physics & Cosmology - Prof Roger Penrose & @ProfBrianCox
. Is a scientific concurrence with Vedic Cosmology emerging?
🕯️ https://t.co/zmiRChSKsy

🕉️https://t.co/k6fUImXYod
@publicdelivery

[Anatoli Kopadze @AnatoliKopadze]

Anthropic CEO: "there are jobs that took generations to build that may disappear"

this is one of the best interviews I've seen in a long time

Dario Amodei talks about how to prepare for what's coming

here's what to expect:
> high GDP growth and high unemployment at the same time
> software becoming essentially free to build
> the gap between people who use AI and people who don't

the scariest part this is not a prediction, this is already happening

to stay competitive you need to adapt fast and you can't do that while ignoring AI

that's why I put together a guide on Claude features that 99% of users have no idea exist

it will completely change how you work with Claude

you can find it below

[Michael Tait @tait108]

Great story about personal & professional endeavour. https://t.co/4lTWt7kmTs

[Michael Tait @tait108]

District Court of NSW has been trialling the Walama sentencing list. With rates of incarceration of First Nations significantly higher, this program is aimed at reducing repeat offending with hopes it will become more widely available. #auspol
https://t.co/hqu8mRZOGw

[Michael Tait @tait108]

The history of the Met Gala is fashionating & here presented by @MarcFennell with @librarycongress Dr Elizabeth Lunden.
@vogueaustralia @VogueSpain @voguemagazine
👉https://t.co/1e6RY9NLBU

[Michael Tait @tait108]

Community radio is indispensable delivering cultural & regional relevance unhindered by a need to provide commercial broadcast returns. Serving as a training ground for future professionals in the current media landscape is essential. @2ser @AusGovArts
https://t.co/gFGQokzbr8

[Michael Tait @tait108]

Monolithic corporations with easy access to legal muscle, lobbying finesse & mandate to maximise shareholder value won't always behave. Does Government action to bring about civic renewal always arise when scandal erupts?
https://t.co/xQ2Ip521oE

[Dharma ⚡️ @DharmaBr0ther]

A fear driven narrative around Ai is promulgated by the entities that would benefit from its extensive adoption. Ethical questioning is essential in the face of an unregulated technology that could be both malevolent and useful. @ControlAI @SECGov
https://t.co/8rHxqUI16g

[Dharma ⚡️ @DharmaBr0ther]

A series of free podcast interviews on ethical integration of yoga practice for mental health practitioners. Only available between 4-13 May 2026.
https://t.co/PzSqphwZcV

[Michael Tait @tait108]

https://t.co/qPOAEzrZI9

[Michael Tait @tait108]

The genocide of Armenian Christians perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire 1915-1916 is recognised by many countries (incl. Lebanon, Vatican City, U.S.) The estimated deaths range upward of 664,000. The atrocities spurred the UN Genocide Convention of 1948.
https://t.co/d76gMPbsbB

[Michael Tait @tait108]

Remembering James Valentine. ABC Jazz.
https://t.co/y8a2OIXTib

[Quentin Dempster @QuentinDempster]

C’mon @AlboMP Attorney General @mrowland please urgently adopt Denmark’s new Copyright laws giving all citizens ownership of their biometric data (facial/voice/finger prints/morphology). Scammers, AI, Trump, global platforms cannot use your biometrics without permission. 👇👇

[Michael Tait @tait108]

Opaque financing structures are creating high levels of interconnectedness that could potentially threaten the global financial system. @IMFNews April 2026 Global Financial Stability Report
https://t.co/kRypIxXQ2C