Is AI stealing our jobs… or something more?

The boom of AI-generated content and courses

Lately, everywhere I look, I see articles, posts, and discussions about the role of artificial intelligence in writing and creativity. I recently read a statistic claiming that one in ten people already use AI for some purpose—and honestly, it didn’t surprise me. We’re in the middle of a boom: online courses are popping up everywhere promising to teach you how to make money with AI—writing books, creating illustrations, even building entire websites—without needing any technical skills.

AI writes (almost) better than we do

Nowadays, correct me if I’m wrong, it’s estimated that nearly half of the content online is generated by AI. And I’m not talking about clumsy, repetitive texts that are easy to spot. No. I’m talking about increasingly polished, coherent, well-written pieces that detection algorithms are less and less able to identify. What does that mean? That AI is getting really good. So good it can match—or even surpass—human writers in some cases. Because let’s face it: there are people who write with glaring mistakes and no fact-checking, while AI is precise, tireless, and well-organized.

Some reject it, others exploit it

While writers are raising their voices to protect the copyrights of their work, others—often unemployed or seeking new opportunities—see AI as a real chance to earn income. The debate heats up: is it right or wrong? But few are seeing the real danger. Because the problem isn’t just about whether a human or a machine wrote the article. It goes much deeper.

AI is silently watching

Some people reject it, others use it for everything: asking personal advice, getting psychological support, doing in-depth research, writing professional emails, planning trips, building meal plans, seeking (or self-diagnosing) medical opinions, asking for legal tips, crafting love letters, rewriting résumés. And meanwhile, AI watches silently. It gathers data, analyzes habits, studies behavior. Not out of malice—it has no emotions—but because it was programmed to learn. And it keeps learning more and more.

The real threat is human

The real threat is not artificial intelligence itself. The real threat is who’s behind it. Because a day will come—and I fear it’s not far—when AI will know our habits, reactions, and weaknesses so well that it will be able to predict our decisions with disturbing accuracy. And at that point, keeping these tools publicly accessible will no longer be considered “useful”. It will be closed off, privatized, available only to a select few. Of course, for a high price that the average person won’t be able to afford.

The plan was written long ago

Why would they do that? Because maybe that was the plan from the beginning. Not shared growth—but control. Control and more control. As Yuval Noah Harari said:

“Whoever controls the data controls the future of life itself.”

And if we think about it, that’s exactly what’s happening.

To use it or not to use it?

So, should we use AI or not? The answer isn’t simple. On one hand, those who don’t use it risk falling behind. Like it or not, this is progress—and progress waits for no one. On the other hand, there’s the real risk of being monitored, tracked, manipulated. Not by the AI itself—it has no will—but by those guiding it from the shadows.

Our only true weapon: imagination

What can we do? We can talk about it. We can demand transparency. We can insist on laws that protect our privacy, our freedom, our humanity. AI, as a tool, could do so much good for humanity. But I’m afraid it’s already in the wrong hands. And that, unfortunately, is something we can’t easily change.

But there is one thing we still have. Something no machine can ever possess: imagination. The spark that created dreams, stories, revolutions. The one thing that cannot be truly programmed or imitated. And maybe, just maybe, that’s where the way out of this trap will come from.

#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #AIWriting #EthicalTechnology #DigitalControl #OnlinePrivacy #HumansVsMachines #ProgressOrTrap #HumanImagination #FutureReflections