> the media and much of the population treated critics with absolute contempt. Being anti-AI feels the same as being anti-war.

The propaganda machine is just that good. With enough money, you can control public opinion.

>The food we eat, clothes we wear, and every electronic device we touch may embody innumerable injuries to the world, and all this is inescapable

Classic. "All the things I don't want to give up... inescapable. But this thing over here I don't like? Yeah, you should give it up."

I'll give up AI when you give up your phone.

> Something seems to be lost on my peers today: it’s still easy to not use AI. The food we eat, clothes we wear, and every electronic device we touch may embody innumerable injuries to the world, and all this is inescapable. Eschewing AI is one thing that we can actually do to live out ethics that affirm values of human and environmental rights.

I disagree. Giving yourself a pass on decisions around food, clothing, and electronic devices as if you cannot choose to have minimal social and environmental impact in those domains is completely false. I would venture as far as to say as getting on your high horse w.r.t. AI but not be simultaneously (self-)critical in these other areas doesn't endear me to the author's overarching narrative.