Also fair.

I find the term machine learning more honest than artificial intelligence

I would argue we need to go back to Machine Learning.

The field is machine learning, generative machine learning etc.

This rebrand to AI is doing nothing but confusing people and building investor hype

This is exactly it. In my country most employers act in good faith. Employees return that favour.

You’ll get dickbags everywhere, but the system ensures people’s incentives are aligned.

“If my compensation includes paid time off”

The “If” is exactly the problem in America. Most countries with mandatory vacation specifically incentivise employees to use it all (little to no carry over, no payout at the end of year).

The entire purpose is that you use it all and are refreshed and more invested in your job.

You’d get looked at funny if you declared you planned on using your PTO, that’s like saying you plan on taking a lunch break EVERY DAY. It’s just expected

This is exactly what seems to be missing in the US: courtesy.

A system that gives everyone entitled leave means better employees and less downtime due to leave (surprise surprise, courtesy leads to coordination).

Shockingly this leads to people caring about their team mates, and things aren’t zero sum anymore.

O_o

I fear for the future of programming

Imagine many entities have a shared database. You cannot trust anyone else but you have to add something. The consensus mechanism of the algorithm of your choice ensures that only good actors participate through sheer game theory. This naturally has a cost and you are happy to pay it. You have a lot of fun