Let's not jump on the AI hype bandwagon. The dystopian themes, AI personalisation as some sort of guru, and general SciFi hyping up of it, are all just noise. AI is here to stay, it is affecting our lives already, and most of us are playing catch-up - even the companies who are embracing it wholly.

Drive the machine, or be driven over by it

In recent history, each technological advancement has changed our lives. For the better in the most part: it has enriched us materially, but also dumped on us a fresh set of social and ethical issues. For some, it has ruined their lives, and for others, made them richer, or very rich. For some also, it has been a tool for evil.

The Microprocessor Revolution (1970s) and Personal Computer Explosion (1980s):
Computers went from mammoth to micro, and we had PCs on desks in homes and offices. Intel, IBM, Apple, Microsoft and Adobe thrived as a new digital economy emerged.

The Internet and World Wide Web (1990s):
We got global access to free information. Netscape, Amazon, and Google became household names almost overnight, reshaping commerce and communication.

Meanwhile, Open Source Software (1990s–2000s) introduced a radical new model of collaboration. Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, and the Apache Software Foundation helped redefine how software could be built collaboratively rather than exclusively. Central to the ideology of Open Source is the belief that ideas should be freely shared.

Broadband, mobile internet, smartphones, and social media further accelerated this transformation, reshaping economies and daily life in ways previously unimaginable.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning represent the next major shift. Comparable to the Industrial Revolution in scale, it will reshape labour, industry, and the distribution of power around compute and data.
AI will not remain confined to data centres. Like the microprocessor before it, it will move into personal devices.

All these revolutions, explosions, disruptions, and major shifts have generally improved lives and economies. However, the changes caused some job losses, some businesses failed, some grew, and new ones emerged.

Fears about AI being used as a surveillance tool, destroying jobs, harming society with massively amplified propaganda, being used as an agent of the anti-Christ, and escaping human control - are not entirely unfounded. Criminals are already using it for evil purposes, but most people are using it for good purposes. The effect of AI on society will be determined by the hearts of the people who use it. Let's use it for good!

Speaking of which, we already have Open Source LLM models, which puts the power (and responsibility) into our own hands.

Learn how to use AI, and use it well, and use it for good.

Drive the machine, or be driven over by it.

Read my blog about a new AI tool, and how I wrote it.