What is the trade-off with A.I.?

Its here, the era of A.I. Or atleast we are told it is. A lot of commentators talk about ChatGPT and LLM’s as the best thing since the iPhone. Which in turn was compared to the best thing since the dawn of the internet. We fell in love, why wouldn’t we?. The power to summon all human knowledge at our fingertips. A whole new way of interacting with each other. The flourishing of apps, games, and tools to make life better.

Is that what happened? Are our lives better?

These devices are now (permanently?) embedded into our lives. The entire attention economy depends on them. Our ability to focus, to think deeply has been impacted. Maybe permanently lost. Are we better?

What is the new batch of technology, the LLMs going to do to us? What will happen to us in 10 years when we dont have to think about what we have to write, what we have to read. What parts of our humanity will atrophy. Will the gains in productivity and efficiency in the short term be worth it?