Machines and manipulation

Every generation has its inventions.

My generation as well – and it has invented something that now invents us.

At a business conference I attended in New York recently, several speakers painted a picture both astonishing and alarming: a world where artificial intelligence doesn’t just serve us – it shapes us.

We’ve entered an era where algorithms not only predict what we want but quietly persuade us to want it.

One speaker compared TikTok to a “behavioral drug disguised as entertainment.” It’s hard to argue with that.

The app’s genius lies not in what it shows you, but in what it withholds.

Endless scroll.

Quick dopamine.

No finish line.

That’s not technology; that’s psychology with code.

There is now what is called “The Illusion of Choice.”

We once believed the internet would democratize opportunity and give every voice a chance. But somewhere along the way, it turned into an attention casino where the house always wins.

AI now decides who gets noticed, who gets muted, what trends and what disappears.

And while we think we’re scrolling freely, our choices have been pre-filtered, optimized and monetized long before our thumbs move.

As one analyst quipped at WOBI, “The algorithm doesn’t care what you watch. It only cares that you keep watching.”

And keep watching we do – until time blurs, focus fades and real conversations feel inconvenient.

While many young people think they are now entrepreneurs because they run their own businesses and sell their products online, what they do not understand is that they are simply changing their employment and are now working for social media platforms as their new employers – slaving under the spell and command of the algorithms and no longer under a boss they have learned to loath and criticize.

And what is worse is that I have seen many who monetize through the platforms become slaves to the algorithm.

Then came the economic side of AI, which is a far more sobering discussion.

While AI creates convenience, it also creates concentration.

Only a handful of tech giants now account for over half of global market capitalization. They build the platforms, own the data and lease the intelligence.

The rest of us?

We’re the users, the data sources, or the entertained.

This, some experts warn, is not innovation – it’s feudalism with faster Wi-Fi.

We once celebrated capitalism for rewarding creativity and risk-taking. But today’s digital economy often rewards scale and surveillance instead.

The small business owner can’t compete with an algorithm that knows their customer better than they do.

So while the world celebrates AI breakthroughs, the truth is that economic power narrows – and social trust thins.

And in the middle of all this, there is now what is called “The Epidemic of Loneliness.”

In the middle of all this noise, people feel more alone.

Data shows that young men, especially, are retreating from real relationships and meaningful work.

One conference speaker called it a generation of young people raised online but starving for connection.

We live surrounded by “friends” but devoid of friendship.

We share everything but reveal nothing.

We are informed but rarely transformed.

AI can simulate empathy – even generate “compassionate” replies.

But it cannot care. It cannot listen between the lines. It cannot sit with you in silence.

Technology may make us efficient, but it does not make us whole.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not anti-technology.

I write columns on my workstation, prepare lessons on my iPad, communicate through apps, and post thoughts and stuff every day on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, and even BlueSky and my blog page.

I sometimes even let AI help me outline my ideas.

My newly produced YouTube podcast (started in the second half of last year) has already reached 10,000 viewers in just six months.

Technology has helped me achieve things – but the keyword is help.

The moment the tool starts doing the thinking for you, it stops being a tool.

AI is meant to assist human wisdom, not replace it.

But wisdom requires reflection – and reflection demands quiet, something our digital lives rarely offer anymore.

We cannot automate meaning.

We cannot outsource our humanity.

We cannot download purpose.

So where do we go from here?

Maybe it starts small – just like famous author and speaker James Clear’s “one percent better.”

Maybe we reclaim our attention one percent at a time.

We put down the phone at dinner.

We talk to a friend without checking notifications.

We read something that doesn’t glow.

Because the danger isn’t that machines will become more human.

It’s that humans will become more machine-like – efficient, reactive, and emotionally flat.

The age of AI doesn’t demand that we outsmart technology.

It calls us to out-human it.

In the end, the real intelligence that matters isn’t artificial – it’s authentic.

And that, my friends, is still something no algorithm can replicate.

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