Look, I’m Not a Luddite
Honestly, I love tech. I’ve been a journalist for 22 years, and I’ve seen some crazy stuff. But this AI thing? It’s getting out of hand. I’m not talking about some futuristic sci-fi scenario. I’m talking about right now. Last Tuesday, I was at a conference in Austin, and let me tell you, it was a wake-up call.
I was chatting with a colleague named Dave—nice guy, knows his stuff—and he told me about this new AI that can write code. Not just simple stuff, either. Complex, nuanced code. I asked him, “Dave, what’s the point? What do developers do then?” He just shrugged and said, “I guess they find something else.” Which… yeah. Fair enough.
But Here’s the Real Problem
It’s not that AI is taking jobs. It’s that it’s taking the fun out of everything. You ever try to write something creative, and then an AI spits out something similar in seconds? It’s like, “Thanks, I guess?” I mean, I’ve had my work plagiarized by humans before, but this is different. It’s not personal. It’s not even lazy. It’s just… efficient.
And don’t get me started on art. My friend Marcus—let’s call him Marcus, his real name’s too complicated—is a painter. He’s been at it for 15 years. Last month, he showed me a piece he’d been working on for weeks. It was beautiful, abstract, full of emotion. Then he showed me what an AI could do in 30 seconds. It was… decent. Not great, but decent. And it hit him hard. “I spent 15 years on this,” he said. “And a machine can do it in half a minute.” I didn’t know what to say.
But Wait, There’s More
So, I’m not saying AI is all bad. I mean, have you seen the best online shopping deals 2026? Crazy stuff. But here’s the thing: it’s not just about convenience. It’s about the committment we make to each other as creators. It’s about the physicaly and emotional investment we put into our work. And AI? It doesn’t care. It’s completley detached.
I was at a bar about three months ago, and this guy—let’s call him Greg—was telling me about how he’d used AI to write a novel. He said it was “liberating.” I asked him if he’d ever written anything before. He hadn’t. So, I guess that’s succesfully? I’m not sure but it feels kinda sad.
And the Future?
I don’t know. I really don’t. I’m not an expert, and honestly, I’m not sure I want to be. But I do know this: we need to talk about it. We need to have real conversations, not just tech bro hype. We need to think about what we’re losing, not just what we’re gaining.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not about the technology. It’s about us. It’s about what we value, what we cherish, what we’re willing to fight for. And if we’re not careful, we might just wake up one day and realize we’ve lost it all to a machine that doesn’t care.
About the Author
Sarah Thompson has been a senior editor for over two decades, covering everything from tech to travel. She’s a self-proclaimed tech skeptic, but she still loves a good gadget. When she’s not writing, she’s probably arguing about the Oxford comma or trying to find the perfect cup of coffee.
