I’m a software engineer and a crocheter and I assure you, AI has ruined both sides of my life.
Anyone who believes AI is the future is either delusional or making money off of it.
I can go on and on about the subject but that’s not a discussion to have in the comments section.
I’m just glad to see people’s backlash.

Private equity is what doomed Joanns too - they strip the company until it collapses.

The funniest shit about this is that he posted it on linkedin maybe in a hope that us girly girls do not have actual jobs and therefore no need for linked in? He probably expected his techbro bros to clap for him instead he got hundreds upon hundreds of comments from women folding him down into a pretzel

I had to stop spinning my own yarn to laugh at "we don't care about being left behind by technology" 😂 you nailed that response!

As a software developer in training, I really hate the general consent that coding with AI is now accepted. I have noticed that so many coders and software engineers just can't properly code anymore and use AI for EVERYTHING. I have a teacher who uses ChatGPT to answer our questions. The brainrot is so real in this field and I hate it so much. I'm trying to find companies to work with which don't use AI and it's absolutely impossible.

One question is 'WHY do they have to scale?' Why is it an endless 'number go up?' Couldn't you just stick with being a profitable business that is good for your consumers, and not get bigger and bigger until you're crushed under your own massive weight?

How to kill a company:

1. State that you are embracing something that negates customers values.
2. Make a product of less quality at a higher price.
3. Make “free” campaigns that are taking advantage of free labor for an inadequate trade.
4. Poor customer service and communication
5. Not being genuine in response to addressing the first issue.

I have only ordered from Hobbii once.  I do not want to support a company that doesn’t value their customers or products enough that won’t at least honest enough to really address the elephant in the room.  No thanks.

Thank you for making this video.
The way Hobbii are handling this feels like they really want to be a tech company, not a yarn company. I will not be buying from them anymore. I do not support using AI just so you can say you are using AI, which is what it feels like they are doing.

As someone who has unfortunately bought multiple patterns on etsy to only realize halfway through they were AI: LEAVE AI OUT OF THIS

I think that if the post had been about them using AI for the business side of things (reports, analytics, etc), it would have been more understandable. But making it about generating pictures (which steals from artists) it's the worst they could have done.
And "I'm sorry that you are upset" is a backhanded apology. He should not be interacting with the customers.

I feel so sad that they have been behaving this way. I'm danish and even live very close to one of the few physical stores they have here in Denmark, and I used to love Hobbii yarn. But after all of this I just can't keep supporting a brand/company that is so unbelievably degrading towards the very community that they sell products to. Guess I'll have to buy my yarn somewhere else now.

Unfortunately I think so much of this is because Hobbii was bought out by a private equity firm who are only in it for the profits they can make and it has destroyed Hobbii as a family/craft oriented company. What they haven't realized in doing what they have done so far with AI and lay-offs in a creative and cohesive community that actually talks to each other is killing their business managment idea. It's not like buying an investment firm or ad agency....this PE firm will lose money on this as they underestimate the yarn artist community and how much we value quality and customer service. The only benefit I see coming out of this is people migrating to LYS and indie dyers

Watching this I was thinking how this whole thing highlights ‘the great divide’ between those of us (crafters in particular) that are sick of AI polluting the spaces we are in with misleading slop, and the tech bros that feel like they have to jump on the AI bandwagon. And maybe, just maybe, the backlash this caused can open the eyes of the techies that there is definitely a very questionable side to AI that is indeed hurting a lot of us. There is undoubtedly uses of AI that can be helpful, but what a LOT of consumers see is just the slop that is out there to manipulate and deceive us and we’re so done… I don’t have an answer, I hate that AI is making me question almost everything I see and keeps flooding the spaces I liked to use for inspiration. But hopefully there will be some more critical thinking around AI thanks to this controversy.

Happy to help with the Facebook screenshot! It's still beyond me why they decided to post that in the group rather than making an actual public statement. Thank you so much for this video. I'm still seeing so many people not fully grasping the problem with all of this, especially as Hobbii continues to deny using AI, laying off staff, firing designers, etc. So disappointed 😞

35:00 it's like we collectively just forgot what photoshop was as a society sometimes. pay an artist to photoshop your products in various colours if you really felt it was necessary. the result will both be more accurate and more ethical

I think they wanted to test it so they put a few things out there like "how do they respond to back end AI use?" "What about if we use it to change real photos a little?" And they got smacked for it as they should. If no one would have said anything, it would have absolutely kept creeping into everything they do.

I really appreciate you modeling media literacy with your journalism, Double-checking credibility and being transparent about where info is coming from is so important, especially when talking about AI.

i hadnt tried Hobbii before and now i wont. Joann's is gone. Can't shop at Hobby Lobby. We are running low on options!

To be honest, Hobbii has always kind of given me the ick for reasons I couldn't really put my finger on. I think you're right that they've always been a bit inauthentic as a company; not the people working for them, but the brand itself and the higher ups. This whole issue just put the nail in the coffin for me.

As a side note to the AI conversation,  you might want to go into your settings and switch off the automatic AI dubbing YouTube has added. It's a jump scare anytime I hear it 🤡