AI Makes Me Sad

Every time I see a post on Twitter or LinkedIn about a new development in AI, I feel a sense of hopelessness. This sentiment is particularly strong when I consider the fact that I am in a position to benefit from AI. If I were to add a few vibecoded projects to my resume, the doors would open for me at every startup, enterprise company, and FAANG behemoth. However, I do not wish to pursue a career as a prompt engineer for companies like OpenAI, making $500k.

My concern stems from the loss of craft, control, and creativity that AI brings. It reminds me of Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, where the protagonist embraces factory work, only to be consumed by the very machine he loves. This scenario makes me sad, as I believe I could have been a formidable startup founder if I had been born a few years earlier.

Now, everything revolves around AI startups, where companies build businesses that can be operated by AI-generated prompts. The AI-generated art, music, and writing have become the defining aesthetic of our time, yet they often come across as stupid or useless. It feels stifling, as if there is no way to stop this overwhelming tide.

I cannot imagine a future where every post on Twitter, or any webpage, is filled with AI-generated nonsense. The institutions we rely on would need a complete overhaul. However, I am hopeful that the technology industry moves at such an unprecedented pace that we will start to see a way out of this "dark age" within a few years.

AI will likely have a fixed role in our society by the end of my life, whether it is small or major. While I may feel a sense of happiness when I imagine a scenario where AI's influence is curtailed, I also recognize that this will require painful shifts in our industry. Despite feeling like an AI evangelist looking forward to artists filling out McDonald's applications, I am hopeful for the future.