---
title: "The people do not yearn for automation"
source_name: "Simon Willison's Weblog"
original_url: "https://simonwillison.net/2026/Apr/24/the-people-do-not-yearn-for-automation/#atom-everything"
canonical_url: "https://www.traeai.com/articles/48d792df-7956-42d9-85ae-f093d16e51b9"
content_type: "article"
language: "中文"
score: 5
tags: []
published_at: "2026-04-24T22:38:49+00:00"
created_at: "2026-04-24T22:50:50.303581+00:00"
---

# The people do not yearn for automation

Canonical URL: https://www.traeai.com/articles/48d792df-7956-42d9-85ae-f093d16e51b9
Original source: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Apr/24/the-people-do-not-yearn-for-automation/#atom-everything

## Summary

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## Content

Title: The people do not yearn for automation

URL Source: http://simonwillison.net/2026/Apr/24/the-people-do-not-yearn-for-automation/

Markdown Content:
24th April 2026 - Link Blog

**[The people do not yearn for automation](https://www.theverge.com/podcast/917029/software-brain-ai-backlash-databases-automation)** ([via](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/04/23/patel-software-brain "John Gruber")) This written and video essay by Nilay Patel explores why AI is unpopular with the general public even as usage numbers for ChatGPT continue to skyrocket.

It’s a superb piece of commentary, and something I expect I’ll be thinking about for a long time to come.

Nilay’s core idea is that people afflicted with “software brain” - who see the world as something to be automated as much as possible, and attempt to model everything in terms of information flows and data - are becoming detached from everyone else.

> […] software brain has ruled the business world for a long time. AI has just made it easier than ever for more people to make more software than ever before — for every kind of business to automate big chunks of itself with software. It’s everywhere: the absolute cutting edge of advertising and marketing is automation with AI. It’s not being a creative.
> 
> 
> But: not everything is a business. Not everything is a loop! The entire human experience cannot be captured in a database. _That’s_ the limit of software brain. That’s why people hate AI. It _flattens_ them.
> 
> 
> Regular people don’t see the opportunity to write code as an opportunity at _all_. The people do not yearn for automation. I’m a full-on smart home sicko; the lights and shades and climate controls of my house are automated in dozens of ways. But huge companies like Apple, Google and Amazon have struggled for over a decade now to make regular people care about smart home automation at all. And they just don’t.