AI hype is poisoning the technology well

Otherwise sensible humans that are respectable in their craft have gone off the deep end when it comes to discussing artificial intelligence. It is a trend that is worrying, as it seems to color nearly every conversation the same way it colors every product.

I don't hate AI.

There are ethical problems with how it was created and trained. No one seems willing to discuss all of the IP theft that has taken place. People are losing their jobs because of stupid decisions made by company leaders. CEOs that need AI to succeed are painting it as both the savior of humanity and its potential downfall.

The technology itself was inevitable – something we've been driving towards since the 1980s. However, the implementation and the hype cycle around it are totally unnecessary, if not dangerous.

Like other innovations before it, AI has its place and helps humans do more with less at a faster rate. When used properly in the right context, it is an amazing technology that will help revolutionize the way we interact with and organize data going forward.

All of that said, I am so deeply tired of hearing about AI.

It should have never come to this. Imagine if someone announced a new type of screw that made building things more efficient and cost-effective and then the entire global economy shaped itself around this single product. It isn't that the product isn't innovative and useful, but it's just another building block in a larger system.

AI isn't a product, it's a medium.

So, when I tune into some of my favorite podcasts or open the home page of some of the websites I follow, and every topic is about artificial intelligence, I feel like I've lost my mind. Surely this better hammer that's basically an autocomplete engine couldn't take up so much space. Could it?

I've found myself scanning podcast chapters for topics before skipping episodes entirely. It's AI all the way down.

It is as if we have collectively forgotten how to think for ourselves. Sure, these tools can speed things up, organize data, or provide potentially hallucinated answers to questions. But the human still has to be involved and do the work.

It's as if humanity has left the room.

I am by far not the first person to make this connection, but I've noticed a trend in humanity that is worrying. Carl Sagan warned us of the very situation we're in in his book The Demon-Haunted World – "when the people have lost their ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority."

Critical thinking has become an endangered species. Spotify rose to massive popularity because its algorithm could tell you what music you liked before you knew you liked it. Google ran ads about how humanity wasn't able to function without its search engine. OpenAI says that the human race has an imperative to use AI or see itself fall.

People can't read past a headline. They only know what to watch on TV because of an algorithmic recommendation. Video games live or die because of how much money they make instead of having entertainment value.

This isn't a post that is meant to be bleak or doom-casting. I actually have a lot of faith and hope for humanity. Trends towards "dumb" technology like the Nintendo DS or iPod that lack online components and social networking are a good sign.

We're all exhausted by what has been going on around us. So, all I can ask for is that my fellow nerds learn to love technology again. AI tools can be useful, but they're such a small part of the bigger picture. They constantly change and update because they need to stay in the news cycle. Stop feeding that system.

My love of technology is based on what I can produce with it, like photos or writing, or get out of it, like entertainment. It is okay to be excited by the prospects of a more powerful thinking software, but don't lose your ability to create and build because you've let AI do it for you.

Sometimes the most important part of creation is the struggle and solutions you arrive at along the way. Skipping the hard parts of every little thing is to skip what makes us human.

That isn't to say we should throw away the electric drill in favor of the manual screwdriver. Just remember that the brain is a muscle, and if we don't use it, it will atrophy. Eliminating all of the friction might actually be a problem, especially when the tools eliminating that friction are capable of hallucination.