Have we been scammed by Artificial Intelligence? Or more accurately, have we been scammed by a handful of companies and their powerful CEOs to believe that AI is the answer to all our human limitations? And are we really that “limited” if these so-called limits have been delineated by our Creator? 

At the same time, these corporate moguls make no secret of the fact that their tools will be used to surveil us 24/7, take our jobs, cancel our civil rights, and then some. They are not promising to end world hunger, stamp out poverty, or provide affordable family housing. About the only promise they are holding out to the average person is medical miracles—but at a price. Give us access to your body, your brain, your DNA (through invasive injections, chips and wearables), and maybe our experimental gene therapy will work on you.

Suddenly, the woke global narrative is no longer about returning the earth to its primeval condition and purifying the air. The amount of land and (dirty) energy required to answer one query posed to our chatbot in lickety-split time is staggering. The pollution regulations have suddenly disappeared, and the environment and its inhabitants are being lethally poisoned by gargantuan data centers’ chemical output. Just ask the residents of Memphis, Tennessee. 

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Who are these CEOs? What are their objectives? How do they look at humanity? Do they have a Christian worldview? Thankfully, we can know the answers to these questions, because these unself-aware billionaires spill the beans in copious interviews, and it’s downright chilling. But their jig might soon be up as the unrealistic, undeliverable hype is starting to be exposed for what it is: megalomania, psychopathy, greed, a power grab, and a massive Ponzi scheme. Economic analysts are even predicting the burst of an AI bubble due to the hundreds of billions of dollars invested by governments and speculative markets in the race to be number one in AI dominance and profit.To be sure, there are wonderful and appropriate applications for AI that have been quietly used for years now: crunching numbers, compiling data, modeling storms and other potential natural disasters, aiding robotics in performing hazardous jobs, and too many other functions to mention. But AI has a narrow lane, and needs to stay there. 

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A recent victory for humanity is YouTube’s very wise decision to demonetize purely AI channels, no matter how many millions of hits they get. Why? It has been predicted that in a few short years, the Internet will be taken over by AI-generated images, videos, voiceovers, stories, news, etc. 

YouTube is either repulsed by that thought, or knows that users like myself and millions of others will leave the platform if and when that happens. Already, when I go on YouTube, I’ve had to curb my usual intellectual curiosity. I’m super wary of new channels, even if the topic is enticing. Example: “Beaver Paratroopers Aided the World War II Effort,” complete with a “photo” of the beasts midair (with helmets). Is this true? I don’t know, and I’m not going to bother to find out. It’s getting harder and harder to fact-check all the wild claims and Beaver tales (pun intended). A World War II historian even took to online to show how WW2 photos are being manipulated by AI for some unknown purpose, when the original photos are perfectly clear and dramatic enough. 

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Here is the list of elements of human creativity that YouTube is looking for: “human narration or voiceover; personal-style insights and storytelling; creative graphics, editing, transitions, overlays and sound design; provide value through analysis, education, original opinions, humour or entertainment.” See folks? We’re not obsolete yet. 

Do we even need AI? The world has done just fine without it up until now. The ultimate marketing ploy is to create an urgent problem or need where none exists, and then step in with the solution or product. It’s similar to the Hegelian dialectic: thesis-antithesis-synthesis. And if you’re a firm believer in “progress” at any cost, keeping up with the Joneses, the “new” being better than the “old” (even if the old ain’t broken), then you can’t even conceive turning back from this brave new world. But human beings can always turn around, it’s what we do, especially if we’re lost. Like the Prodigal Son.