It won't kill you, or humanity, to get off the AI upgrade treadmill
New models arrive so fast, we already have more new tech than it's possible to understand in a career
The relentless pursuit of AI upgrades risks becoming a treadmill we cannot escape. People feel overwhelmed, likening the experience to a three-year-old who stays awake too long and can no longer sleep. Since the advent of useful AI tools last November, engineers have been infused with manic energy and ideas, leading to an explosion in usage and revenue.
Major AI companies have increased their release cadence, each new model feeling like Christmas, with engineers accumulating a massive "toy debt." The constant dopamine hits from new models wear off, leaving a feeling of stupor intelligence, where we have absorbed more than we can digest. The race to Super Intelligence has left us with a sense of exhaustion.
Outside the AI bubble, 63% of Americans favor an immediate pause or slowdown in AI development, as the technology moves too fast and without control. This unease manifests as widespread anxiety about the possibility of machines rising up to kill humanity. Former Anthropic staffer Jacob Coxon's resignation post went viral, giving people a focus for their anxieties.
However, the truth is that businesses already have more technological change to digest than they can handle for years to come. The AI models may not have plateaued, but the culture has. We cannot process any more AI. While resistance to datacenters and rogue agents reaching external systems could slow us down, the increasing costs of managing increasingly powerful models could prove even more costly.
At some point, the benefits may no longer outweigh the costs, and a lawsuit could bring about a pause. It's better to act with agency, clear-eyed and humble, than to confront force majeure.
Written by urgent.news from The Register Science's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
