The Biggest Lie Is That AI Will Make Us Happy
Here’s why AI isn’t the feel-good drug we all want
Embrace AI and everything will be 1000% better.
Your job will be easier, your life will be easier, and you’ll feel fantastic.
Wake up from the dream and face the reality.
AI isn’t going to be the aphrodisiac we all want or need to turn our lives into a living fairy tale.
A highly paid babysitter
Studies show that when new technology invades the workplace, the effect on workers is usually negative.
People worry about losing their jobs, they feel like they can’t keep up and are stressed out when they are trying to learn something new on top of their old job. Just another thing to learn on top of the pile. Bosses seem to like shiny objects, and how do we know this isn’t another fad that will be gone in a couple of months?
Once you start using ChatGPT or the other LLMs like Claude it turns out they aren’t that bright.
AI doesn’t check facts, forgets things and needs a lot of prodding to get to a solution you would be happy to show to the head honchos upstairs. I’ve tried writing with AI and it’s like training a dog that needs constant attention. I’ve taken courses on how to use these apps and the amount of control you need to exert is frustrating.
Your work turns into babysitting an app and some days may seem like the movie “Groundhog Day” when you keep repeating the same actions and get tiny improvements.
So much for that happiness you were supposed to feel from getting a solid day’s work done.
Loss of purpose
When we finally master AI it’s supposed to give us all this free time.
You may have liked working or spending your days the way you already were, and now you feel lost. This leads to more stress— your job was your identity, determined your self-worth, and defined where you were in society.
Your north star has been corrupted and you don’t know how to correct it.
The next question would be — what do we do now? Watch more Netflix? Spend more time with the kids who are on their phones anyway? Play more pickleball?
Unfortunately, when people have too much time on their hands it leads to alcohol abuse, drug addiction and a whole mess of bad behavior. The treatment centers will be the ones benefitting from the AI revolution. Even studies have shown that too much free time leads us to a lower sense of well-being.
Having all this leisure time isn’t going to make us happy — it’s probably going to bring us down.
The need for greed
AI is supposed to be the great equalizer — it’s supposed to make an even playing field between the wealthy and the poor.
Once we’re able to do things with AI at a minimal cost then it’s supposed to make everyone’s day a little brighter. Unfortunately, this isn’t how the world works. The individuals who put the money into the tech want to see a return on investment. So, they need people to pay for it.
When goods are cheap to produce the businesses that create them want to make a profit.
The cost savings aren’t passed on to the consumer. They are passed on to the shareholders or the owners of the company. The common man is left with paying high prices.
AI will not have improved our happiness since this isn’t the moneyless society of Star Trek.
Emotional hamster wheel or treadmill?
We all experience positive and negative events in our lives, but after these events happen we slowly return to a sense of normalcy.
This is a concept known as the hedonic treadmill — despite the fact that we can hit tremendous highs and lows our happiness “level” throughout our lives is relatively stable. Our happiness is attributed to our character rather than external events. So regardless of what happens throughout our lives we determine if we are happy or not.
A sustained level of happiness is an elusive goal — Abd-al-Rahman III, Caliph of Córdoba, a powerful man who had all the wealth and accolades in his time could only remember being happy throughout his life for 14 days.
“I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honours, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation, I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to Fourteen: — O man! place not thy confidence in this present world!” — Abd-al-Rahman III, Caliph of Córdoba
This means AI isn’t going to help us achieve a new level of happiness — our internal emotional calibration already sets what limits we will be able to attain.
Give me some happy pills
Basically, the only way AI will make us happier is to administer to us some drugs that will bring a smile to our face constantly.
Does the machine become the dealer and we become the clients? Will we pay whatever price is needed for our high? The tables may seem to be turned when the creators become slaves to what they have created.
Happiness is a fleeting emotion that AI can’t create or provide despite what the proponents say.
Final thoughts
AI isn’t going to make you happy — you need to find your own happiness.
It’s a simple suggestion, but we’re always looking for ways to maintain the highs we experience. The AI hype machine tells you what it believes will sell its technology and imbed it in your life. The lie that it can bring happiness is believed since we’re desperate to find a constant state of euphoria.
Will you believe the lie or will you make your own happiness?
