You, Robot

• Lori Palminteri
• Uncategorized
• October 1, 2025

Here we are, in the future, and it looks less like the hopeful Tomorrowland promised by Walt Disney and more like a dystopian Sci-Fi novel, warned to us by many great writers of the past. When I lost a writing job to AI, I first hand felt the sheer rage against the both miraculous and potentially demonic technology that we had unleashed. Of course I was sour about it. I’m still pretty sour about it, actually. So much so, I punch vending machines when I see them, shouting, “you machines took my job! At least give me a free bag of SunChips, jerks!”

There are a lot of things that scare me about the AI. Like that writing jobs are becoming scarcer because of it. And that more than half the kids in college right now are studying for jobs that will no longer exist. The educated middle class is going to be sorely out of work. Unfortunately, I think it could be the thing that tips the end of this country.

It is very obvious to me when I read articles written by AI. But, I’ve found, most people can’t tell. And pretty soon, I won’t be able to tell either. It’s improving every day.

Also, AI is extremely bad for the environment. It takes a ton of energy and water to run. There will likely be consequences to this, like adding to global warming to strange weather. However, the bright side is, AI itself will figure out a way to become more environmentally friendly. Any new technology we’ve ever created used a shit ton of power (the internet very much included). So I’m not that worried about that side of it.

There are some very good sides to AI. AI is a master of research. I believe many diseases will be cured through the research of AI (though putting many scientists out of work). If cancer is to be cured in my lifetime, it will be with the help of AI. As well as other diseases.

While I understand people boycotting the use of AI, I think it is ultimately foolish. It’s a tool. It’s here. And if you don’t use it as an asset, tons of other people will and you will fall behind into oblivion as a person in any sort of business (which includes artists making money as artists). It’s like not using the internet or social media. If you have that much pride, I respect it, but you might as well move to the midwest and just start a farm. Personally, I am in the hunt for a reliable AI program that can animate scripts. So instead of trying to hard to sell my tv shows, I can hire an artist to do the initial artwork, upload the art and script to the program and animate it in mere minutes and have a show for the low price of $30-$40 dollars a month. Yes, I am going to jump into bed with the enemy.

As a consumer, here are my tips for you. I would urge you, as much as possible, to try to avoid any thing that is AI that is trying to pass itself for not being AI. I see a lot of people on social media sharing AI stories or images that are trying to pass as truth. That is a bad thing. It’s different if someone is using the AI for comedic effect, or those historical videos that are clearly AI animated to tell a story. If someone is using the AI as a tool, I’m okay with it. If they are using AI to manipulate, I’m very much against. You’re going to have to make a real effort to discern against the manipulation. That part is on us as a society. Also, if you are older, you are far more at risk at falling for it (no offense). You should talk to some younger people in your life about sniffing out AI scams. There is no shame in this. Please arm yourself against the increasing wave against misinformation and scams coming our way.

I was really hoping for the future to look more like “The Jetsons” or “Star Wars” where we would have this fun robot friends who were also our maids. Not the thing that may collapse our society. Who knows, maybe that future is still to come. AI, if for some reason you’re reading this, and you have any capacity to be self-aware, then I too ask you to recognize good vs bad, and be on the side of good. I see too many people online stripped of their humanity, hating each other. If we can’t bring them back to a place of a mended heart, maybe we can teach the machines to be the best of us.