AI promises to free up time. Might it stop us learning, creating and exploring?

3 thinkingemote 1 7/4/2025, 8:24:49 AM theguardian.com ↗

Comments (1)

reify · 12h ago
yep. every newly invented internet thingy claims; it is better, it frees up more time, it makes; shopping, applying for jobs, paying your bills, connecting with friends, so much easier. in fact it has gotten worse.

over the last 25 year or more these claims have never come true.

A simple thing like going shopping with my wife.

human:

We get in the car, have a nice chat, Its a beautiful morning, park near the store, have a look around a few shops. try some clothes, buy some clothes, see an old friend, have an chat, decide to get some lunch, right all the wrongs of the world. talk about out grand children, drive home, we chat about the wonderful day we had, the old friend we met. we agree to do it more often. a real human day out

non human:

turn on laptop. open website. I want a pair of jeans, innundated with 2000 diffeent pairs of jeans, is the size correct for me. I hazzard a guess, go through the check out. a message from my bank asking is it me, MFA, I have to pay for them to be delivered, deivery next week. cant afford a small fortune to get a delivery tommorow. receive 20 emails trying to sell me other stuff, receive 10 emails asking how well they did, yet sure I unticked all the boxes, or should I have ticked them, black arts afoot, Wait in all day for the delivery. finally get my package, try them on, they dont fit. anxiety creeps in. how to send them back. I email them, no phone numbers to call, how long will I have to wait. drive to local return lockers or wait in a queue at the post office. money not refunded, call the bank. on and on and on it goes.

and ai is going to improve this chaos

secretly hoping a meteorite will smash into earth to put an end to my suffering and reset humanity

The internet is shit