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?

Two interesting threads today - one about a DH having what could easily be described as an emotional affair with an AI "mentor" as such. Comments are more anti than pro, but the pros are apparently blind to the reasons why this is a Bad Thing. Of course the whole thread could be an AI scrape, and we'll never know 😆

Other one is how tech like apps etc is actually making modern life harder, not easier, and actually more time consuming. We Neo-Luddites are becoming emboldened at last it seems 😂

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/15/government-roll-out-humphrey-ai-tool-reliance-big-tech

Watch out, watch out, there's a Humphrey about, slurping everything up via the state.....

AI can't even tell the very clear differences between my Emmeline, my Lola and my Celeste (all cats in the grey to black hue, one of them a Manx sans tail). Total rubbish!!

I am intrigued to know how you discovered this....

Your cats sound amazing, I love the names x am full crazy cat lady, and my Ianthe has just had four gorgeous kittens sired by my boy cat, who I won't name because it will link to other sites, and " outing". This is an accidental but wonderful one off. Boy cat is going to hate me very soon.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/09/britain-digital-id-cards-labour-reform-borders-identity

Wonder how much AI will be embedded in this ?

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tech-giants-join-government-to-kick-off-plans-to-boost-british-worker-ai-skills

And so it rolls on. Bit concerned about what happens to the other four fifths of workers though, if AI is going to be all pervasive on virtually every level 🤔

Ianthe - what a lovely name for a cat! And kittens too - wonderful! (All mine are spayed ladies of advanced years, alas.) Google photos keeps offering me somewhat unwanted collages of them, all labelled "Memories of Emmeline" etc. even when Em is only pictured in about half of them, which is how I know how crap it is.

Ah, makes perfect sense. It's all so hit and miss, and when it's on the nice but mundane things, it's not such an issue, although very rude to your lovely cats, but when it's more serious stuff I feel it's such a potential for chaos.

Hope you and the ladies are having a peaceful Sunday 🫠

I completely agree with everything you've posted, btw.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/15/ai_model_collapse_pollution/

An interesting read with a synchronistic crossover as my Dad was a nuclear test veteran and spoke of the nuclear contamination thing with me just recently. Weird, but interesting.

from a business sense whats the purpose of running a business when its just giving jobs for the purpose of it, etc and if Ai can improve the business etc then why is that bad ?

we already rely on big tech and have done for decades

in that case can we ban the main stream media ? especially the way articles are framed etc that mislead the public

If ai makes everyone unemployed, what happens to the economy? I am the first to say bring on ubi but I don't imagine that is what would happen.

that i can understand but then why not limit tech years ago eg the machines in the cotton / lace mills etc ? plus then thats down to govt policy

take a wild guess... or maybe read the thread which is full of reasons....

I imagine they'd bring back some form of workhouses. Or there'd be a ghetto-ised (a la WWII) where they'd put all the undesirables (ie the majority of people). Maybe they'd blast us all into space like Wall-ee or we'd descend into Idiocracy.

Many many awful options there for you!

but most are not logical objections its more nostalgia for the past rather than improving society for the future

What's illogical about pointing out that job losses and the re-shaping of the world of work is going to happen faster than it can be adjusted to, and will have deep and problematic effects on the economy, likely destabilising it in an unprecedented way because it's not comparable to the relatively slow process of industrialisation over the last two hundred years?

What's illogical about pointing out the scope for psychological impacts of interacting with and relying on AI that again, have no frame of reference?

What's illogical about questioning whether the environmental impact is worth the alleged benefits?

Exactly what is your definition of illogical??

Bollocks. What is not logical about the massive energy and water cost and the unparalleled risk of misinformation?

Swirlything, you show very little understanding of the implications of AI if you think it's like anything in past human history, especially the facile analogies you offer.

this sounds like something an ai would write. as have all the previous posts from this name

when it holds back progress of technology, jobs have always been at risk due to tech, eg full automation in factories etc but no one stopped tech then, or self service tills, etc so why now just because its Ai

except my grammer and spellling would be perfect and my arguments and points would be alot better thoguht out and i would produce alot better analysis for my points too

its hardly going to be the entity from mission impossible etc