Is AI fatigue a real issue? It’s creeping in and not just the tech…
How to stay (and feel) human in a very AI-hyped world.
Key points
- AI fatigue is real.
- There are ways to recharge while taking a tech break
- AI invites us to become more aware of our humanness
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Nations all over the world are dumping millions and billions into AI research and patenting. The news is saturated with new GPT version releases, people being manipulated by or falling in love with AI agents, and concerns that AI is dumbing down humanity faster than a human can type “dumb.”
As a child, I played with robots, played Atari games, and read stories about UFOs. When my school offered an after-school computing class, I learned how to program the TRS-80 to make simple dot-matrix shapes that vaguely resembled a dog’s face or a star.
As a philosopher of science, I gravitate to science fiction stories and shows like Battlestar Gallactica and delight in teaching scientific and technical writing to our university’s engineering majors. I’ve always been a technology enthusiast and a technological determinist–in other words, one who is both excited about and accepting of new developments in technology, come what may.
But recently, I’ve noticed myself pushing back on the torrent of technology infiltrating our lives in both morally questionable and downright annoying ways.
The dawn of AI fatigue
Educators, writers, policymakers, and podcast hosts have all begun to acknowledge that it’s somewhat disconcerting to be living in the wild West of AI, where everyone’s using it and no one’s regulating it. Of course, that’s an overstatement, but it is a fact that AI rolled out lightning quickly before anyone had time to consider its moral implications and how it should be regulated for the safety of humankind.
And yet, we’ve been here before.
My Ph.D.-granting university had an early-days NanoCenter and our philosophy talks then revolved around how we would prevent or combat the dreaded “grey goo” Michael Crichton vividly warned us about in his novel Prey. But, 20 years later, nanotechnology research continues and the world’s goo-free.
It remains to be seen whether concerns over AI are warranted; it’s just too early to tell, and most of us know almost nothing about AI and its future trajectory.
Our college students are already well versed in using AI, though, and will use it unless explicitly told not to; and even then, some still use it and hope for the best. It used to be obvious, just three years ago, which papers were penned by AI but now it’s much more difficult to discern and even harder to prove due to the fact that the AI-detection programs are so variable in their assessments.
Whether we like it or not, AI is doing students’ homework, encroaching on artists’ livelihoods, manipulating unsuspecting humans, and, overall, just exhausting us.
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Is there a way out of the matrix?
Not really, no. AI is here to stay. Some say it will make the world a better place. Some predict it will destroy the world in the next few years. Only time will tell (that’s the technological determinist in me speaking).
But if you’re feeling AI fatigue, know that you’re not alone, and seek out authentic ways to connect with the real world. Whether or not we’re living in a simulation, as some brilliant thinkers like computer scientist Dr. Roman Yampolskiy allege, the natural world and our loved ones feel real to us. Create meaningful moments with the humans, pets, and natural places you love.
I’ve also found some ways to give my technology-fatigued college students a healthy break this term: There’s a bin for their cell phones (not one student objected); hard copy books are required; and writing reflections are written in notebooks.
What’s the result of no phones and no laptops with their constant notifications snatching students’ attention away every other minute? We’re having sustained, deep, and meaningful discussions on the book we’re reading together in class. It feels like college again—where learning is a human activity comprised of thinking, talking, writing, and creating meaning together.
AI is here to stay, but so are humans—at least for now. There’s no better time than today to discover what makes you feel quintessentially human and do that thing.
So what do you think? Is there a way out of the matrix, or not? Share your concerns over AI in the comments below!
Written by Liz Stillwaggon Swan PhD
Originally Appeared on Psychology Today
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