After travelling 5 continents in the past 2 years, I realize that the world does not revolve around AI.
Here's a live picture of me to prove to you that a human wrote this article.
I’ll make it super straightforward: the problem is that the more you read the news, the more you freak out.
When you read this ↓
You’re subliminally imagining everyone using ChatGPT. I mean, 800 million users is a big chunk of people.
Then you start imagining AI taking over jobs. Baristas, you’re now imagining something like this:
Your brain tells you that these are facts.
That the article writer won’t write lies.
That the barista actually makes coffee.
The media uses facts as their main selling point. But they sprinkle some essential pessimism on that.
You’re more likely going to read articles that are stating a major change in your life (like Baristas changing into robots.)
You’re not going to read articles about how those Robots are hyped and not as good as they say.
It’s human psychology. You react to news that make you feel worried. That’s not going to change anytime soon.
AI is real, but not as big as you imagine.
I’ve been travelling — I live in Switzerland and travelled in the past two years to North America, South America, Africa, and Asia for family/work.
I did not see ChatGPT as much as I imagined to see it.
I did not see robot baristas, sometimes funny robots carrying trays.
You know what I saw? I saw people — humans laughing, talking, eating, and being busy.
The life of a person who reads newspapers everyday is much different than the life of one who doesn’t.
You’re being under the influence of what I’d call the “mind bubble”.
There’s a bubble in your mind that tells you that some countries are dangerous.
It puts some characters rent-free in there like Elon Musk.
It makes you feel that everyone’s using ChatGPT.
It makes you feel that humans are being replaced by robots.
This mind bubble was one simple benefit → it sells article subscription. A few people are benefiting from you being in this state.
The recipe is and always will be:
Give them some pessimism.
Sprinkle some facts so that the worry sinks in.
Around the world, people are mostly thinking of their next meal.
It’s simple. It’s not as complex as your bubble is making it.
I’m right now in Panama, and I look around and see people thinking of their next meal, driving their cars, doing sports, shopping, drinking, and laughing.
They’re not in a state of fear.
They’re not worried.
They’re living quite humanly and normal.
The world is so large and full of humans doing their things.
AI should not wake you up in the morning.
AI should not put you in a certain state of mind.
AI does not control the narrative, you do.
Take a break, go for a walk, and look at people.
Many would be on their phones. Many would be eating and talking. Some would be working.
We’re all of that, not a single part of it. All these people are not “replaceable” by AI.
They’ll still need to eat, work, and be on their phone (hopefully less.)
We’re not in a dystopian movie. The future those articles are drawing is a potential one that might exist in a hundred years.
Here’s what they don’t say — It also might not happen.
We might dislike it. The one thing that we’re sure we fail at is predicting human behavior.
A coffee vending machine sounds like a wonderful idea. But it did not replace baristas.
There’s something about a human looking at another human’s face that won’t change.