Google and Microsoft announced this week a series of tools and technologies leveraging AI — from translation to video creation, code writing, and more. All in all, it promotes the vision of a ubiquitous world with AI at its center. But not long ago, those same companies were talking about mobile and other tools that fueled the gold rush of mobile apps and site optimizations — the apps and ads war that can be seen as one of the causes of the excessive digital consumption we see today.
That image is now being reshaped into the promised land of artificial intelligence and everything it brings to our daily lives: restaurant reservations, travel planning, application development — in a kind of "look at all the things I'm not doing" way — leading some of us to think about job cuts and the tectonic shift certain careers are bound to face. Conversely, is this the prelude to yet another gold rush? This time targeted at model training, MCPs, and a new type of web — one not designed for the browser, but for the agentic-centric nature of the world?
If there's a population of AI agents on the horizon, where are they going to live? What will they feed on? More importantly, if the world becomes increasingly populated by AI-produced content — apps, videos, and ultimately, decisions — what becomes the role of humans? Could we become addicted to outsourcing our thoughts to the point of paralysis when facing real outrage? It seems far-fetched, but that's already true of the internet. Try spending your days offline and eventually you'll come to see it just as essential as electricity and water. One can get by without it, in the same way one could cook without a stove or microwave.
When it comes to AI and this Cambrian explosion unfolding in front of our screens, that dependency may become even stronger. What kinds of achievements and breakthroughs are waiting behind this door? What shifts in human behavior are we about to witness? What will define the humans who thrive by leveraging AI to its fullest?
While the technological aspect of it is fun and exciting — and I consider myself lucky to be at the peak of my professional career at a moment when these continental shifts are happening — there is a concern: are we accelerating too fast? Not because technology needs speed limits, but because behind all the excitement and good intentions lies a few billion humans — and their very nature, one that has proven highly susceptible to the dark side of progress.
Perhaps this time we should ask ourselves what we want to become, what kind of lives we envision for a society that now has the unique opportunity to reshape itself with the assistance of these incredible, almost magical, agents. Agents that are not far from triggering our rawest emotions and, eventually, becoming part of the society themselves.
AI, you are mostly welcome, and invited to hold us humans accountable to our highest capacity. Because we are a true force of nature in all of its beauty.
Let's prove it.
That image is now being reshaped into the promised land of artificial intelligence and everything it brings to our daily lives: restaurant reservations, travel planning, application development — in a kind of "look at all the things I'm not doing" way — leading some of us to think about job cuts and the tectonic shift certain careers are bound to face. Conversely, is this the prelude to yet another gold rush? This time targeted at model training, MCPs, and a new type of web — one not designed for the browser, but for the agentic-centric nature of the world?
If there's a population of AI agents on the horizon, where are they going to live? What will they feed on? More importantly, if the world becomes increasingly populated by AI-produced content — apps, videos, and ultimately, decisions — what becomes the role of humans? Could we become addicted to outsourcing our thoughts to the point of paralysis when facing real outrage? It seems far-fetched, but that's already true of the internet. Try spending your days offline and eventually you'll come to see it just as essential as electricity and water. One can get by without it, in the same way one could cook without a stove or microwave.
When it comes to AI and this Cambrian explosion unfolding in front of our screens, that dependency may become even stronger. What kinds of achievements and breakthroughs are waiting behind this door? What shifts in human behavior are we about to witness? What will define the humans who thrive by leveraging AI to its fullest?
While the technological aspect of it is fun and exciting — and I consider myself lucky to be at the peak of my professional career at a moment when these continental shifts are happening — there is a concern: are we accelerating too fast? Not because technology needs speed limits, but because behind all the excitement and good intentions lies a few billion humans — and their very nature, one that has proven highly susceptible to the dark side of progress.
Perhaps this time we should ask ourselves what we want to become, what kind of lives we envision for a society that now has the unique opportunity to reshape itself with the assistance of these incredible, almost magical, agents. Agents that are not far from triggering our rawest emotions and, eventually, becoming part of the society themselves.
AI, you are mostly welcome, and invited to hold us humans accountable to our highest capacity. Because we are a true force of nature in all of its beauty.
Let's prove it.
Erick