I use AI constantly. Probably more than I should, but still, within moderation.

I use it to assist with research, organize thoughts, troubleshoot problems, write code I don’t yet understand, and occasionally answer questions I probably could have figured out by myself.

That’s the part that bothers me.

Hands down, AI is the most revolutionary tool since the internet and before that, the printing press.

Both inherently were created for a similar purpose.. Providing a more efficient way to access information for the masses.

Not only does AI provide a seemingly unlimited amount of information, but it has begun substituting part of the problem solving process which allows us to grow and truly gain the knowledge to proficiency.

AI is fucking incredible.

A small business can suddenly have access to something resembling a copywriter, researcher, analyst, developer, designer, assistant, blah blah blah. It can do it all. One person can use this tool to bring their ideas to life which previously required a team or many man hours to do so.

This ability has allowed those who are open to adopting this new intelligence to flourish in an almost modern day gold rush.

However, this convenience has a cost.

We’re adopting this particular convenience at such an absurd rate that I don’t think we’ve had a chance to understand what we’re trading for it. Frankly, once we do, it will have already seeped so deeply into our lives that it will be impossible to reverse.

We have algorithms that decide what we watch, what we listen to, what we’re most likely to click on, what we buy, and those whom we should connect with.

At this point, we’re not just handing over data, but something much more personal.

It is how we think.

We feed the system more and more information into our decision making, our thought processes, and really, more of ourselves. Whenever there is friction between point A and point B, the system is there to remove it. Therefore, removing the problem solving process from our plate.

This friction, as annoying as it can be, might be more important than we realize (circumstantially).

Within that friction, when we’re wrong, struggle with an idea, or are forced to reconsider, that is where we actually learn.

It’s where we develop taste, judgement, and an understanding of whatever it is we’re trying to figure out. Jumping to the end goal isn’t always the most valuable part. Sometimes it’s everything that took place while trying to find it.

We humans constantly crave progress and building tools to make our lives more convenient.

There are a lot of parallels between our world and Viktor’s arc in Season 2 of Arcane.

He wants to solve every problem by removing suffering from the human experience in order to create a perfectly functioning society.

Eventually, he succeeds.

In attempting to perfect the human experience, he removes the individuality and the things that make the experience human in the first place.

Control, disguised as a Utopia.

It is not understood until he succeeds and realizes that this was not the world that he sought it to be. Viktor saw suffering, inefficiency, and conflict as humanistic flaws. Only after succeeding does he understand that some of what he removed was inseparable from being a human.

Obviously, our version is far less dramatic.

Piece by piece, we feed it everything.

What we search for. What we need solved. What we buy. What we worry about. What we’re working on. The questions we would typically ask when no one else is listening.

Eventually, enough individual pieces begin to resemble something much larger.

Almost, a profile of sorts.

A system, designed by humans. Trained by our input in order to optimize itself to be of better use and essentially shorten its processing or “thinking” and become more efficient. It strives to process information in a manner similar to that of us humans. Our brain operates on roughly the power of a lightbulb. Current power requirements for the systems to run require massive commercial buildings filled with servers, cooling systems, water, and copious amounts of electricity. This is a topic for another time.

All in all, this isn’t an argument against AI. That would be hypocritical.

I’m mainly questioning the current trajectories along with our dependence on artificial intelligence.

The tool itself and its existence is not the problem, rather our relationship with it.

Every day we seem to drift a little further from the physical world and a little deeper into one constructed for us by screens, algorithms and machines.

In the end, how much of ourselves are we willing to outsource in exchange for convenience?