When the AI-generated lie becomes indistinguishable from the truth, our reality fractures. The emotional trust we place in our own eyes and ears is eroded, leaving us with a deeply unsettling sense of vulnerability.
While public debate fixates on deepfakes and election interference, a more pervasive force is emerging: not through propaganda, but through conversation. As millions engage with Large Language Models every day, asking for advice, explanations, and emotional reassurance, AI is no longer just informing, it is influencing.
From coding to content creation, automation is reshaping not just how we work — but why we work. The real danger of AI may not be unemployment, but the slow unmaking of what it means to be human. Through the story of a developer training the AI that will one day replace him, this article explores the human cost of automation. Drawing on thinkers from Aristotle to Arendt, it examines how technology erodes meaning, identity, and connection, and asks what happens when humans no longer stand at the centre of their own creation.
