We Are Being Turned Into AI
More than disrupting industries and online habits, AI is also changing how people behave and think | Edition #208
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We Are Being Turned Into AI
More than disrupting industries and online habits, AI is also changing how people behave and think. Surrounded by AI systems, many are slowly becoming more similar to AI than they are ready to admit.
In today's edition of the newsletter, I discuss some of the signs that show that the transition to the “AI age” is much more visceral than it appears.
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If you were born in the 1980s or before, you remember how life was before the internet. You probably remember the first time you visited an online chat room, the first time you used Yahoo or Google for search, and the first time you created a social media profile.
I remember each one of these moments clearly, and when I try to explain to my kids what it was like before and how technology changed our lifestyle, I feel like I was born in the 1800s.
Well, if you forgot how it was, or if you're Gen Z or Gen Alpha, this is what it would look like:
If you needed to research a topic, you would need to find a book or an encyclopedia about it, depending on the depth you needed. You would need to consult with friends, family, or teachers to know which books to read. If you didn't have the relevant books at home, you would have to physically visit a library or a bookstore. It would take time, effort, and physical involvement to accomplish this task.
If you wanted to meet new friends or a partner, you would need to physically go somewhere to meet them: a school, university, workplace, club, park, party, or bar were all potential places you could go. It would probably be easier if another friend or family member introduced you.
If you wanted to initiate a public debate about a controversial topic, you would need to find a physical place for that discussion to take place, such as a school, a university, a club, a restaurant, a park, and so on. People would be in the same physical space, and each person would have their turn to speak. You would be looking into the eyes of people with opposing opinions.
The processes I described above still exist, but they are no longer mainstream behavior or what happens most often. Technological advancements in the past 20-30 years have radically changed how we behave. Today, people:
Use online search engines, and now AI chatbots, to research.
Use all sorts of social media and dating apps to meet new friends and find a partner.
Initiate public debates (and fights) using social media and other content platforms.
I could go on and on with more examples of how new technological advancements have changed the way we think and behave, both publicly and in private.
As many of us have observed over the past 20-30 years, people are usually quickly fascinated by shiny new technological objects and jump into new trends and devices.
There is not enough time or opportunity for self-reflection or deep awareness about how each of these new devices and apps has impacted us, either negatively or positively. People just go with the flow.
It's mid-2025, and for the past two and a half years, hundreds of millions of people have been swayed by a “shiny new object” called AI.
It's still very early (remember that the massive behavioral changes I described above took 20-30 years to happen), but it's already possible to visualize AI's impact on people's way of thinking and behaving:
1. From search engines to AI chatbots
People are using AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, to search. In addition to that, as I wrote earlier this week, Google, which owns almost 90% of the global online search market, is significantly expanding AI search features in order to maintain its dominance.
AI search is different from simple online search, and it will also impact how people deal with research, information, knowledge, and fact-checking. Why?