It’s very difficult to read anything online now without those two letters appearing somewhere in the text: AI.
It’s everywhere, but that doesn’t mean it’s always needed.
We were sold the idea that AI would replace us, reshape work, and change everything overnight. What we actually have, at least right now, is a lot of buttons, chatbots, summaries, “agents”, and algorithms.
Sometimes it helps.
Sometimes it gets it wrong (hallucinations).
Sometimes it actively harms it’s users.
Sometimes it exhausts the pot of money allocated to whatever company project needed the AI label.
..and the most damaging, sometimes it actively harms people indirectly, via layoffs.
I have mixed feelings about AI.
I do think vibe-coding is a good thing. It unlocks software creation for people who couldn’t previously build their own personalised tools. But I don’t think the culture around it is always healthy.
I do think AI has genuine value in everyday life. But I don’t think consuming every piece of hardware on the planet to make it happen is a trade-off we should just shrug at.
At this point, I should acknowledge that I use AI for the thumbnails on my posts. That’s something I wouldn’t have been able to do at a reasonable level of quality without it. I also have plenty of vibe-coded apps and a digital assistant I use daily.
So I’m not anti-AI.
I just don’t think we’re “there” yet. Not with the technology, not with the culture around it, and definitely not with the way it’s being marketed, overhyped, and overvalued.
So… where is it going?
That’s the golden question. But one thing feels certain:
It’s not going away.
What do you think?