Welcome to another edition of Office Hours! Lately, my comments section has been getting spicy. I’m not just getting questions about how to use AI, I’m getting folks telling me that AI is fundamentally wrong, bad, and soulless.
And you know what? I’m completely okay with that stance.
There are deeply valid points to be made about AI’s impact on our world, the exploitation of artists’ work, data privacy, and the commercialization of a “copy of a copy” culture. (If you’re like me and accidentally did a philosophy degree, Theodor Adorno’s The Culture Industry probably haunts your thoughts on this, too).
But if you’re anti-AI, you can’t afford to be AI-illiterate.
The formulaic vs. The uncopyable
Working in media and digital product for 20 years, I’ve seen how formulas rule our culture. AI is absolutely displacing jobs right now, but it’s largely mastering the things that were already formulaic. It can write a reality TV script because reality TV follows a strict, predictable recipe.
What AI can’t do is write an Oscar-winning script that shreds your soul, or compose a piece of music that makes you cry on the kitchen floor.
For me, AI has sparked a creative renaissance. Because the gatekeeping barrier of code has dropped, I can execute my ideas instead of waiting for thousands of dollars in funding.
How to resist AI (ethically and actively)
Opting out of the technology entirely doesn’t stop big tech corporations or governments from optimization and monetization. If we want AI to be a public good, citizens need to dictate its direction.
If you want to fight the current state of AI while staying true to your moral compass, you have options:
Go local: You can run Local AI models directly on your computer. No data centres eating up massive energy grid resources, and no tech giants scraping your prompts.
Prioritize privacy-first platforms: Seek out companies that explicitly promise not to collect, train on, or share your data (like the venture from the founder of Signal).
Build your own firewalls: Sensitive about data privacy? You can use an LLM to code your own period tracker or financial planner app where 100% of the data lives locally on your device, entirely offline.
Use it as a sparring partner: You don’t have to use AI for output. Use it to stress-test your arguments. Ask it: “Where would a university professor poke holes in my logic here?”
Let’s debate
I’m not here to convince you to love AI. I’m here because I want us to know our facts, have robust debates, and shape the culture rolling out around us.
If you hate AI, don’t just leave a angry comment here (though you are always welcome to!). Take that literacy to your local political representative. Ask them what their stance is on algorithmic regulation. Become dangerous with your knowledge.
What do you think? Is AI-generated culture fundamentally a bad copy, or is it forcing humans to finally level up our own creativity? Let’s talk in the comments.
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