https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9097-2246
1. Right now, AI is in its embryonic stage and limited in scope, but still powerful enough to impress. What we see today is just the beginning. In the near future, AI won’t just be a tool. It will model us, shaping our choices, our behaviors, and even our beliefs often without us even realizing it.
2. As AI becomes more advanced, its presence will be more than just a quiet observer of our actions. It will be actively involved in creating the digital environments in which we live shaping the content we consume, the products we buy, and the experiences we have. We’ll find ourselves not merely interacting with AI but becoming increasingly dependent on it, trusting it to guide us in more personal and significant aspects of our lives.
The Invisible Hand of AI
3. Imagine a world where AI quietly influences your decisions. What you see, what you buy, who you interact with it’ll all be subtly curated by algorithms designed to predict and shape your every move. At first, this might seem like convenience, but as AI evolves, it will become less of a tool and more of a puppet master, guiding us through invisible strings.
4. This influence is already being felt. Consider the personalized recommendations on platforms like YouTube or Netflix. These systems don’t just reflect your preferences they shape them. The more data these algorithms collect, the more they predict what you might like or need next, pushing you toward specific choices, often without you even noticing. In the future, this process will only become more sophisticated, and harder to detect.
The Profit Trap
5. Behind this AI evolution will be one powerful driver: PROFIT. Corporations will compete not just for technological superiority but for control over human behavior. The more AI learns about us, the easier it becomes to manipulate our choices, desires, and even our lives. It will no longer just serve us BUT it will control us.
6. The lines between what’s "personal" and what’s "advertised" will blur. AI will evolve into something capable of predicting not only what you want, but also what you think you want, based on your behaviors, emotions, and digital footprint. This personalized manipulation is dangerous because it targets us at our most vulnerable our need for connection, affirmation, and happiness. Before we even realize it, we may find ourselves trapped in a cycle of consumerism that we didn't consciously choose.
The Hubris of Human Advancement
7. The advancements in science and technology have fueled a dangerous kind of hubris ...the belief that we can conquer, control, and even redefine nature itself. Our egos have inflated disproportionately, and our greed seems to know no bounds. We have reached a point where our technological might far outstrips our moral and ethical understanding of its consequences.
8. This arrogance has led us to a situation where we no longer merely adapt to the world around us. Instead, we have started reshaping it, reprogramming our environment, our bodies, and even our minds. But in doing so, we risk becoming the architects of our own undoing, forgetting that the more we control, the more we lose control over what we once held dear.
A Wake-Up Call
9. If we aren’t careful, AI will shape a world that we no longer control. A world designed not by humans, but by algorithms working in the background, shaping our lives for the benefit of a few. No matter where we live, we might find ourselves cocooned by a web of unfathomable algorithms that manage our lives, reshape our politics and culture, and even re-engineer our bodies and minds. And in the process, we may no longer be able to comprehend the forces that control us, let alone stop them.
It’s time to ask: Who will control AI, and who will it control in the end?
10. If a twenty-first-century totalitarian network succeeds in conquering the world, it may not be led by a human dictator, but by nonhuman intelligence: an AI network with the power to manipulate not just our choices, but our very sense of self. This future isn’t as distant as we might think, and it’s up to us to ensure that we don’t lose ourselves in the process.
