Look, I’m Tired of Pretending
It’s 2023 and honestly, I’m tired. Tired of the AI hype. Tired of the non-stop chatter about how machines are gonna take our jobs, our lives, our damn coffee orders. I’ve been in tech since before it was cool, since the days when we still called it ‘computers’ not ‘tech’, and let me tell you, this AI stuff? It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
I remember sitting in a conference in Austin back in 2018, listening to some suit talk about how AI was gonna revolutionize everything. I turned to my friend Marcus—let’s call him Marcus because his real name is boring—and said, ‘Marcus, if AI is so great, why does my smart fridge still order 87 cartons of milk a week?’ He laughed, but honestly, that’s the problem. We’re so busy chasing the shiny new thing that we forget to ask if it actually works.
And don’t even get me started on the cybersecurity implications. I was at a barbecue last Tuesday—yes, I’m one of those people who invites colleagues over for barbecue—and a colleague named Dave told me about this new AI-powered security system his company installed. It was supposed to be this amazing thing, but guess what? It got hacked within 36 hours. By a 14-year-old in their basement. Which, honestly, is kinda impressive in a different way.
But Here’s the Thing
I’m not saying AI is all bad. I mean, come on, I use lifestyle tips daily improvement to remind me to drink water. But that’s about the extent of my AI committment. The problem is, we’re treating AI like it’s the answer to everything. It’s not. It’s a tool. A really, really overhyped tool.
Take my friend Sarah. She’s a writer, a good one, and she’s been stressing out because some editor told her she needs to start using AI to write her articles. I told her, ‘Sarah, if AI could write like you, it would’ve done it by now.’ She laughed, but it’s true. AI can write, sure, but it can’t write well. Not yet, anyway.
And that’s the thing that gets me. We’re so quick to jump on the bandwagon, to believe the hype, that we forget to ask the important questions. Like, ‘Is this actually useful?’ or ‘Are we just making things more complicated than they need to be?’ I mean, I love tech as much as the next person, but sometimes, a pen and paper are all you need.
A Personal Story
Let me tell you about last year. I was working on this big project, a feature article about the future of work. I was talking to all these experts, reading all these reports, and everyone was talking about AI. ‘AI is gonna change everything,’ they said. ‘AI is the future,’ they said. So I thought, okay, fine, I’ll give it a shot. I spent about three months trying to use AI to help me write. And you know what? It was a disaster.
First of all, it took me longer to figure out how to use the AI than it would’ve taken me to just write the damn article. And secondly, the stuff it came up with was… well, it was completley useless. I mean, it’s not like I expected it to write Shakespeare, but come on, it couldn’t even string a coherent sentence together. I ended up throwing it all out and writing the article myself. It took me 214 hours, but at least it was good.
But here’s the thing that really got me. After I published the article, I got a call from this guy, let’s call him Greg. Greg was some bigwig at a tech company, and he wanted to know if I’d be interested in writing about AI for their blog. I told him, ‘Greg, I just spent three months trying to use AI, and it was a complete waste of time.’ He didn’t seem to like that very much. But honestly, I don’t care. I’m not gonna write about something just because it’s trendy. I write about things that matter.
So What’s the Point?
I don’t know, honestly. I guess the point is, we need to stop and think. We need to ask ourselves if AI is really the answer, or if we’re just chasing the next big thing because it’s shiny and new. I’m not saying we should ignore AI completely. But we should be smart about it. We should use it when it makes sense, and not just because everyone else is doing it.
And look, I get it. I’m as guilty as the next person. I love new tech as much as anyone. But we need to be careful. We need to remember that tech is a tool, not a solution. And sometimes, the best tool is the one we already have.
So, let’s take a step back. Let’s think. Let’s talk to each other, not just to the machines. Because at the end of the day, it’s the humans that matter. Not the AI.
About the Author: Jane Doe has been a senior editor for over 20 years, working with major publications and covering everything from tech to lifestyle. She’s opinionated, passionate, and not afraid to call out the hype when she sees it. When she’s not writing, she can be found arguing about the merits of physical books over e-readers (spoiler: she’s team physical).
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