I have begun relying on AI and I don’t know how I feel about it.

[Tusktusk]

So far this month I have used AI to:

Analyse my colours (thanks MN) and suggest outfits

Create a menu of packed lunches around my dietary requirements and preferences, complete with a shopping list

Plan a holiday itinerary

Save me hours and hours of work and stress by suggesting really useful ways to overcome very particular work difficulties, having been thrown into an out of my comfort zone situation. I have used AI for this on a daily basis this week

Tonight, instead of posting my current family dilemma on mumsnet I chatted about it with Claude. The responses were really good. Wise, thoughtful, non judgemental, practical, understanding… like the best mumsnetters.

Am I starting to rely on it too much?

What have you been using it for?

Neither have lots of things. But that doesn't mean I'm going to give up my car (even though they can run people over, and they put carriage drivers out of a job), or books (even though they can spread ideas I don't agree with, and printing put engravers out of a job), or the spinning jenny (which caused poor factory conditions, and put cloth makers out of a job). Technology moves on. All the people who moaned about the internet are happily using Amazon and sending emails.

And look at the problems that came with the industrial revolution. It's largely responsible for the climate chaos that will ensue.

Must we accept any technological advance in the name of 'progress', regardless of whether it is on balance, a benefit to society or harmful? Of course not.

The myriad harms caused by digitalisation - and social media in particular - are increasingly being identified, studied and debated. Article in the Guardian just today about online suicide forums. We wandered into a dependency on the internet and are only just appreciating the damage it does to mental health, attention spans, political discourse, relationships and more.

Whether or not books or cars are similar is beside the point. Why, so soon after making the mistake of becoming dependent on the internet and SM before considering the consequences, are we doing precisely the same thing again - and with tools far more potent and wide-reaching?

The books / phones / the wheel comparisons are utterly frustrating and facile.

Because we are stupid monkeys

Meanwhile glacier collapses are destroying villages in Switzerland, it's hitting 40 degrees in Spain in May and AI chatbots are being trained to deny climat change. 😑

It’s ok though as it can plan your holiday and do your colours ……..

And find cancers in a scan better than trained technicians can...

Actially there is some evidence that it is deskilling senior radiographers. But anyway no-one is arguing against its use in restricted highly targeted areas where it can demonstrate genuine added value. Just not putting in the hands of gullible Joe Public to undermine the trust in information that is crucial to democracy, for the sake of making creepy shit pictures of kittens.

For those who think AI is good outside highly specialised technical areas, why? Can you not see all the disadvantages to it? The impact it will have on skills. Like critical thinking? How it will impact the job market and leave people increasingly reliant on the government. How information is so easy to manipulate.

No single technological advance has ever had only good points and nothing bad! Literally everything has been a mix and a balance of pros and cons.

That's my point. Uncritical acceptance of AI in everything is unlikely to be a good idea in the long run given that we can already see some clear problems with it.

So the trained techs can be added to the ever increasing lists of people who will lose their jobs due to AI. For those likening it to the industrial revolution and the introduction of computer technology - previously, when jobs were lost due to the introduction of technology, other opportunities came by. Computers needed coders, agricultural workers moved to factories (not an unalloyed success, but they did have jobs). With the rapid introduction of AI, there will be very few new opportunities opening for actual human people.

Plus the huge population increase since the industrial revolution means the sheer numbers of people affected by AI and the subsequent loss of jobs could be catastrophic.

On this thread AI supporters seem to think of it as something to help them compose emails, check SPAG, write meal plans and act as a tourist expert for a planned holiday. Next level AI is coming whereby programmes will be able to break high level encryption software in seconds. What will that do to our banking systems?

They will use AI to write better systems, I guess.

The tiny upsides are probably not worth the downsides.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20q5q92y2yo.amp

Oh ye God's and little fishes.

This is where we're heading - more and more surveillance, until we're on a par with China.

The "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" sheep will no doubt continue to claim it's all for our own good, but I think this is pretty sinister.

I have refused to use self checkout from the get go, and have observed many a debacle when one poor harassed staff member has been trying to manage hiccups and age restrictions over multiple checkouts and being in the line of fire from frustrated customers. The argument will now be that this saves them from that, but honestly, who wants to do their shopping under constant surveillance from AI driven technology?

Ugh.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-unveils-1bn-digital-targeting-web-and-new-cyber-command/

And then there's this.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2025/05/21/ai-in-social-work-opportunity-or-risk/

And this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdd026lgmdmo.amp

And this.

I don’t think there was a whole lot of critical thinking and skills in the first place among the “omg ChatGPT says I’m an autumn not a spring!” crowd, so AI isn’t causing them the seismic loss it is for other people…

@sualipa how do you use it for legal issue? Is this just classic chat?

https://www.statewatch.org/news/2025/april/uk-over-1-300-people-profiled-daily-by-ministry-of-justice-ai-system-to-predict-re-offending-risk/#:~:text=A%20Ministry%20of%20Justice%20system,been%20in%20use%20since%202001.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/may/31/new-era-of-threat-amid-changing-face-of-war-uk-defence-review-to-warn

So the Guardian have picked this up.

Honestly everything AI seems to have exploded exponentially since the beginning of this year and it is being relentlessly pushed in every direction.

It really feels as if we're being parachuted into a "brave new world" faster than we can psychologically or economically adjust. This cannot end well IMHO.

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/introducing-tools-for-humanity-orb-for-verified-humans

And what fresh hell is this?

I dont get the energy use issue, whats the issue over and above using computers in general?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ai-boom-could-use-a-shocking-amount-of-electricity/