I'm Sick of AI

While writing the last section I got a notification that my monthly payment for OpenAi has been processed.

"Top 5 AI tools for Designers", "AI tools You didn't Know about !" , "This AI tool will make your life easier", and the list of buzz-filled titles goes on and gets updated daily. With new AI-fueled software and hardware products designed to make our lives easier.

But I'm Sick of AI.

-Hey Siri ! How to make my life easier ?

-If you think it could be serious, ask me to call Emergency Services or someone you trust.

Try asking the same question to an AI guru, and you'll be presented with an automated tool to actually take out a task from your daily routine.- taking our lives apart one challenge at a time.

Technophobia; the irrational fear of technology or AI. But is it irrational at this point? Can we still call it an overreaction? The original fear—that machines would surpass human intelligence, replace us, take over—was dismissed by every AI preacher in every AI cult and church, the technicals and the enthusiasts. "AI won’t take your job," they said. "AI won’t be smarter than us. That’s still a long way off! AMEN!" This concern has been labeled an irrational fear because it's not gonna happen, Yet, the real problem isn’t AI outpacing us; it’s us slowing down to match it.

Brain Explodes "ppoohh"!!

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You like it Fried ?

Before I present my rationale for why we are becoming dumber. Let me tell you my intelligent reader that our decline into mindlessness didn’t start with ChatGPT.

"Poohhh !! " "Another brain explosion"

Cue Footage of Subway Surfer

Well, dear reader if you do not get the reference, your intelligence may still be unaffected by the swipe-and-scroll movement "pun intended". But don’t feel proud just yet.

" No cap boomer"

It’s okay, no need to buy Internet Trends for Dummies just yet—I’m here to help.

Subway Surfer, released in 2012 was one of the first mobile games to take full advantage of multi-touch screens. A graffiti artist running from a cop, avoiding obstacles, collecting coins the game was a hit.

It was a massive success, passing over 2 million downloads on Google Play by May 2018. By now, you’re either confused or starting to get where this is going. But don’t pat yourself on the back just yet, Smart Hooman. About 12 years ago, both kids and adults got sucked into the swipe & scroll addiction. Some were as angry as them birds. Others unknowingly signed up for a long-term membership of Drooling Wits.

Now, what does a 2012 mobile game have to do with AI making us dumber? Well, when I said cue footage of Subway Surfer, I meant it literally, not figuratively.

Lately, there’s been a trend on TikTok: people posting talking-head videos overlaid with Subway Surfer gameplay footage. The idea? Our attention spans are so fried that we can’t even focus on a person talking unless our brains are simultaneously fed an endless-loop game.

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I woke up & felt stupid.

I recently traveled to an area with low internet access. ( I have a thing for developing countries, its called being born in one) No ChatGPT. No Google. No instant search results. And I realized something terrifying:

I rely on AI and search engines way more than I thought.

We no longer feel the need to store information in our brains. Why bother when everything is a couple of clicks away? Instead of commiting experiences to long-term storage, we just "cache", we just shifted from non-volatile memory to volatile memory.

Which is a double-edged sword, while we can rapidly access experiences & data, but its instantly lost once the power " or in this case attention" is lost.

Downloading an app is easier than memorizing facts. Rewatching a tutorial is easier than actually developing a skill. And if an AI can do it for us? Why bother.

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This is not GPT

I think dear reader, you have felt the lumpy texture of my writing (even lumpier than my mother’s Hummus, that she keeps saying she does it that way on purpose), well an apple doesn’t fall away from a tree. I could’ve used an AI tool to make this smoother and creamier, it’s just as easy as adding Ice cubes to the Hummus mixture or simply using an automatic blender instead of the manual one my mom uses, but it wouldn’t be the same.

I feel less stupid hope you do as well !!

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Disclaimer: No actual brains were harmed during the process.

Satirical Footnotes

Nocap: no cap bruh !

Boomer: Old guy bruh !

GPT: How does it feel to live under a rock ?

Crypto: Not mentioned anywhere in the article, but thought you should know about it. It’s as real as god, if you believe enough.

AI guru: A really legit job, just like yoga instructors, astrologists, and Life coaches.

AI: Are you even real ?

Non-volatile memory : Hard Disk.

Volatile memory : Random Access Memory !

Random Access Memory: A computer part !

Tiktok: Ichi ni san.. Arigato

Subway Surfer: I literally babbled for at least 15 mins about it !

Mobile: Magic box !

Honorary mentions :

Apple: The fruit !

Samsung: A Korean man.

Sony: A Japanese man.

Covid-19: An OP-ed flu !