How far should we let AI into our everyday lives?

"I'm not a fan at all", states Filipe Lopes, sound engineer and heavy metal drummer. In an age where the internet and now, seemingly, AI, is fully integrated in the way we handle and structure our lives, the difference between the real and the artificial is now blurred more than ever. But is it just a blurred line? Lopes continues, "I'm not a fan at all because since I'm a musician, it's actually ridiculous to see artists, venues, promoters, trying to promote their show or their album using AI." Taking away opportunities from real creativity and instead, opting for a cheap shortcut is deeply problematic, especially when real people get the cut. But his concern isn't just about music, it's about what happens when we remove the human element from things that are supposed to be human.

Lopes compares this new epidemic of AI to that of the Covid-19 pandemic, explaining that relying on this technology for advice is destructive to the way we see and handle connection between one and another. "You see a lot of people isolating themselves. This also happened a lot during COVID. People were all stuck at home and I know people close to me that when they had to go back to school, they were completely lost. It's the same kind of isolation." Explaining that for him, "instead of being isolated at home because of a virus, you are isolating yourself because of an AI bot you're chatting with." Consequently, the problem here is choice. We've traded one epidemic for another; except we have chosen the latter all by ourselves. This isolation is not only limited to chatbots, it spreads into the trust we have between ourselves.