Artificial intelligence was supposed to make life easier. That is the promise to free us from repetitive tasks, open new frontiers of creativity, and expand human potential. However, lately for many of us, that promise feels hollow. Instead of empowerment, AI even in its infancy often feels like an encroaching shadow automating the work we once took pride in, distorting the reality we once trusted, and sapping the motivation that once gave our days purpose.
In a thousand small ways, AI is already replacing us. Customer service representatives are being swapped for chatbots. Artists, writers, and designers are seeing their jobs swallowed by text and image generators. Coders watch AI produce in seconds what used to take them hours. Even the creative professions once thought to be uniquely human are under siege.
What’s most demoralizing is the speed. In past industrial revolutions, technological change took decades to reshape the workforce. This one is happening in real time. Job titles disappear almost overnight; roles are “streamlined” before people can even adapt. For many, it’s not just a paycheck that’s at stake it’s identity. We build our sense of worth around what we do. When machines can do it better, cheaper, and faster, where does that leave us?
Meanwhile, AI-generated videos, voices, and images blur the line between truth and fabrication. Deepfakes can make anyone say anything. News outlets compete with synthetic influencers that never age, never tire, and never make mistakes except the ones programmed into them which is so dystopian. Think about it. Reality itself feels less reliable. We used to believe what we saw. Now, every image comes with a silent question, Is it real? The collective trust that holds society together in evidence, in testimony, in what our eyes can confirm is eroding. When even authenticity can be faked, the world starts to feel hollow.
I’m trying not to be an alarmist or cynical, but it’s just how I’m feeling at the moment.
AI is really changing a whole lot of things and actually this is quite positive to see
I think there are positives but add in capitalism and things get scary
And AI used in impersonation scams, locating an ex-spouse's location, and crafting fake video evidence, etc.
It's the Wild West right now
Here there is not that thread for jobs, no big fires from companies, people losing everything and such, more or less always the same... On the fakes yeah, it's dangerous, they phone you, record couple of worlds from you and reproduce your voice to scam your family...
That's a scary scam and it's why I don't say anything at first in unknown numbers
You are right to feel this way. I hold the phone an inch from my face trying to determine if stuff I see on Instagram is real or not.
What happens in 4 months when we can't tell?
I'm already seeing people complain about all the AI videos.
Those deep fake clone videos where a guy could be a Twitch influencer are pretty trippy.
I think I finally got tricked I thought I was good at spotting AI videos and there's been two recently that have me guessing still.
AI is just another tool. It all depends on how it is being used.
Seems like it's going to be use to replace workers
The age of automation is upon us.
I'm not smart enough to figure out a solution to this problem but I will adapt and roll with whatever comes my way.
Have similar thoughts and it's quite hard to come up with good enough solutions to solve some of these, particularly with deepfakes. Some have said blockchain can help via it's immutable nature but I think we're a bit far off from that happening.
I'm not even sure blockchain will be safe when AI and quantum computing come after algorithms.
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