Seb's Web

Thinking about this a couple of weeks ago I had another point I wanted to make about AI, namely how it’s like smoking 100 years ago – damaging but presented as a great addition to your life. Now, as this tool is becoming more and more prevalent, my thoughts are circling around different ideas.

(Note: I won’t be hypocritical about this: the handful of AI-generated photos currently present on this website will be replaced by hand-drawn images in the next 24 hours)

Anthony, or “Reject Convenience“, made a very poignant argument on this. AI is no longer optional. “The smartphone is optional, so I don’t have one. Social media is optional, so I personally don’t have any.” AI on the other hand is shoved into absolutely anything with a pulse. Well, anything with electricity, but give them a few years and they’ll shove it in your bloodstream if they can. Think is how I see the timeline:

1. 2023 – The Horoscope phase. Nobody takes it seriously, but they check it out. AI companies swear it’ll be a game-changer but so far it’s a squeaky toy.
   It’s new, free and kind of clumsy, but everyone asks it for recipes in the style of Shakespeare or photos of space-cats wearing tutus.
2. 2024 – The Golden Calf phase. It’s becoming better and people use it for more serious stuff. Companies double-down, stock goes up, the trend is started. AI is writing emails and code; it’s all shit but nobody cares because it feels good, maybe even a bit liberating; promises triple, the vibe is good.
3. 2025 – The Labubu phase. FOMO and running on vibes only. With billions in play no company wants to be left behind. AI starts getting integrated into everything. Is it an algorithm or a Markov chain or just something getting automated? Slap an AI sticker on it and ship it. Corpos officially start trying it out and promoting it for all sorts of stuff. People in the know sound the alarms that AI is hallucinating, lying, doing sloppy work. Who gives a fuck? The line goes up, vibe is good, the stockholders’ eyes turn into dollar signs with the prospect of automating everything.
4. 2026 – The Hunt. Companies taste blood and money. AI progress has slowed down a bit, there’s talk of a bubble, billions are at stake… but there’s not much left to train the machines on, unless… we get the people that will be replaced by AI to do their job a little longer and train that AI to do their work. How cool is that? You start firing people and convince the people that are left (and are grateful to have money for food) to use those AI tools to “streamline” their work and “increase efficiency”.

Of course, you have to ask what’s the end result? How can this be sustainable? Who’s gonna drive any profits if all the workers are jobless, especially higher paid white-collar workers? Well, I think it’s two-fold. The “stockholders” are interested in pure profits before the next dot-com bubble comes. The ones above want to advance the serfdom.

Think about how things like Google or Instagram or Facebook are free. How can they be, though? The answer is you’re the product but also that you work for them. They’re the digital dictators. As Varoufakis put it, every phone, every account, every action you take using the “services” of these giant digital dictators is equivalent to working for them, improving their service and adding value to their stock. Voluntary serfdom by using the GPS, taking photos, giving them data, information and of course, money.

If, until now, you could opt out of anything you wanted, you can no longer opt out of AI. You do want a job, don’t you? Post some photos for AI to train on them. Post a comment for AI to train on it. Write your thoughts for AI to learn. And of course… work with it so it can learn your job, please. Just… vibe with it, maaan, it’s cool.
If you’re reading this and, like me, work in any sort of corporate environment, you’re already experiencing it. I’ve seen in how little time these companies have gone from “Uhm, we’re just trying it out, experimenting” to “Oh, it’s there to make it easier for you, don’t worry” to “It’s not optional, this is the future”. It’s not the future, it’s just short-term profit for the stakeholders. It’s corporate FOMO. It’s getting in on the trend before the vibes run out.

I have no idea what’s in store for the future and I’m not gonna ask AI what it thinks it’ll be. I do know how feudalism ended though. I do know how dictators end. I know that I gotta feed my cats so for now I’m “Johnny AI”, with sunglasses on, vibing in the workplace, and keeping my human nature outside of it. As Anthony put it, anyone who’s an expert in anything has seen how AI is wrong about their field. But the AI will never admit it. They’re made so they don’t fail, so they have an answer to everything, they’re made to seem perfect. Be human and imperfect and get good at anything you can. I, for example, am not perfect about endings.