THE PEOPLE DO NOT YEARN FOR AUTOMATION

THE PEOPLE DO NOT YEARN FOR AUTOMATION

From Decoder with Nilay Patel by The Verge

April 23, 2026 · 19 min

About this episode

Nilay Patel discusses the concept of 'software brain' and its impact on society's perception of AI and automation.

Today on Decoder, I want to lay out an idea that's been banging around my head for weeks now as we've been reporting on AI and having conversations here on this show. I've been calling it software brain, and it's a particular way of seeing the world that fits everything into algorithms, databases and loops. Software brain is powerful stuff. It's a way of thinking that basically created our modern world. But software thinking has also been turbocharged by AI in a way that I think helps explain the enormous gap between how excited the tech industry is about the technology and how regular people are growing to dislike it more and more over time. Links: Why software Is eating the world | Marc Andreessen Gen Z’s love-hate relationship with AI | The Verge The attacks on Sam Altman are a warning for the AI world | The Verge Silicon Valley has forgotten what normal people want | The Verge I saw something new in San Francisco | The New York Times Anthropic CEO issues dire warning about white-collar work | The Street Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder! Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Decoder is produced…

Topics covered

  • AI
  • software brain
  • technology
  • automation

Keywords

  • algorithms
  • databases
  • tech industry
  • public perception

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Decoder

Books & works: Decoder

Places: Silicon Valley, San Francisco

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