Times of technological change, such as the present AI revolution, have a way of summoning old anxieties — and with them, old antagonists.
Lately, that has meant the return of a lexical boogeyman that harkens back to a bygone era of techno-pessimism: the Luddites, those people over the years thought to fiercely oppose new technologies.
The Wall Street Journal recently declared 2026 “Hot Luddite Summer.” Gen Z’s growing skepticism about AI — documented in a recent Gallup poll, among other places — has led to comparisons with anti-tech resistance movements of yore. Some, such as the group of New York youth who call themselves the Luddite Club, embrace the label. Others, such as tech investor David Friedberg, use it to cast stones.
As debate intensifies over the economic, societal and environmental impacts of artificial intelligence products and the data centers powering them, and new and potentially invasive technologies, such as flock cameras, trigger street protests in communities across the U.S., a new and far messier cultural divide is emerging between proponents and opponents of the transformative tech, said Steven Vallas, an emeritus professor of sociology at Northeastern, who studies the technological transformation of work and the struggles that follow.
Read more at Northeastern Global News
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