> In a world where it's easier to make robots that protect children in dangerous mines than it is to make robots that mine...

This is a realistic point of view. But I understood the piece is meant to be playful and exuberant.

billytheked

In a world where it's easier to make robots that protect children in dangerous mines than it is to make robots that mine...

In a world where children would rather dig a hole for 8+ hours a day than play Minecraft...

AI is already enabling child labor in the real world. Its just (not surprisingly) labor that looks nothing like what your grandparents did. Many kids are already earning more than their teachers and their parents by vibe-coding Roblox games, etc.

Mining (excluding oil & gas) added $79.8 billion to US GDP in 2024. Compared to video games, nearly $66 billion to GDP in 2023. So there's actually near-comparable value-add in both industries. However, mining is already highly automated, whereas video game development is just starting to become accessible/automatic to kids using AI, making it a much better oppertunity.

the_stacker_muse

Child Labor enabled by AI

grimtechnet

In a world where it's easier to make robots that protect children in dangerous mines than it is to make robots that mine...

In a world where children would rather dig a hole for 8+ hours a day than play Minecraft...

AI is already enabling child labor in the real world. Its just (not surprisingly) labor that looks nothing like what your grandparents did. Many kids are already earning more than their teachers and their parents by vibe-coding Roblox games, etc.

Mining (excluding oil & gas) added $79.8 billion to US GDP in 2024. Compared to video games, nearly $66 billion to GDP in 2023. So there's actually near-comparable value-add in both industries. However, mining is already highly automated, whereas video game development is just starting to become accessible/automatic to kids using AI, making it a much better oppertunity.