I like AI. A lot.

Of course, not in an AI-girlfriend kind of way. But I've played with it, built with it, studied it. It's not perfect, but it's extremely useful.

And it's honestly pretty fun to mess around with it. I once spent an entire weekend generating artwork using Midjourney, and I loved every second of it. And yet, every time I scroll on social media, I see someone hating on AI. Maybe they hate hearing about it too much.

"Oh God, not AI again."

"Just unfollowed. You used AI."

"AI slop everywhere."

So yeah, I've noticed. A lot of people really hate AI. But I think the hate is misplaced here. I'm on Instagram a lot, and my algorithm shows me a lot of AI-related posts.

Every time I see someone just blatantly antagonizing AI, something inside me just starts to boil. One time, a girl posted a story about AI and how she hates it, and she can't even explain very well what generative AI. She even starts talking about UX apps, bla bla.

In the words of Nas, "People hate what they can't understand."

Here's my simple observation. Most people who hate AI are sometimes the ones who don't understand it at all. They don't understand it enough to hate it. People just need to open their minds more.

It's like blaming cars for the traffic, accidents, and pollution.

It's not AI. It's the People.

Most people don't hate AI, they hate how it's being used.

Browsing on Reddit on the topic of AI, I found this comment that goes,

AI is cool, I love technology, I hate how corporations will use AI and other new technologies. To add on to this, I am concerned about how it can be used for things that do not benefit normal people.

For example, AI that gives you targeted advertising or does something like raise online shopping prices based on what it thinks you are willing to pay for it. Not to mention, companies will switch to AI from humans in a heartbeat, because it's so cheap compared to paying a human to do the same job, even though the AI is going to make whatever service it is worse.

They hate that execs are using it to cut costs, not improve experiences. They hate that artists are being replaced by soulless AI slop. They hate that AI is being used to flood the internet with spam, scams, propaganda, and deepfakes.

And they're right to hate that.

But blaming the tech itself is like blaming Photoshop for bad movie posters. It's not the tool's fault.

"It's Mid"

AI can create amazing things, but it also produces a ton of low-quality junk.

And yes, that sucks. It's frustrating to see thoughtful, human-made work get replaced by a few prompts and a click. But you know what else was mid once? CGI. Video calls. Even the internet itself.

AI, just like all other technologies we've had before, will only get better. Everything always starts awkward and sloppy.

The early versions are always clunky-looking. But then the tools start to improve. People learn how to use the tech better.

We're still in the awkward puberty phase of generative AI and AI as a whole. Even Sam Altman admits it. But it's getting there.

Losing the human touch

I'm a writer. I get why people feel like AI is devaluing human creativity.

Why pour your heart into something when a machine can spit out a rough version in seconds? Why spend years learning a craft when people seem happy with auto-generated stuff?

A content creator on Reddit once stated,

I'm a content creator, and I both love and hate AI. I hate it because it lacks a human perspective or touch.

Someone responded to this saying,

I've seen the human perspective and touch, it is overrated.

Like I see this repeated everywhere. I've been playing music all my life, we're not losing anything by having AI artists. You can still create whatever you want and if its good, it will shine through.

But there's enough mediocre music/art out there that people are just disgruntled they spent a lifetime being good at something that the computer can do better.

You know what? I think AI can't replace the human touch. It can mimic tone, sure. It can remix ideas. But it's not alive.

We still need to make something real.

If anything, AI gives us a shortcut to the "boring" repetitive parts.

The danger isn't AI being "too good." The danger is us lowering our standards and pretending auto-generated content is good enough.

That's not on the tech. That's on us.

Shortcut problem

People love shortcuts. It's just human nature. And AI is the ultimate shortcut — write faster, design faster, code faster, think faster.

But as a graphic designer on Reddit put it,

I am a graphic designer. I work with images for a living. And I am absolutely in love with the capabilities of AI art.

But I also recognize the very real flaws that come with taking the shortcut.

So if I am ever generating AI art content for any real world usage, you better believe I am generating dozens if not hundreds of results, in-paining bad parts, and further editing and polishing the final result by hand in Photoshop.

Because, AI or no AI, the final result has to abide by my standard of quality.

The shortcut only works if you do the follow-up work. The editing. The polishing. The taste-checking. The problem is, many people don't.

They press the button and call it a day.

And the result is this flood of low-effort, AI-flavored slop. That's what most people are mad about. Not that AI exists, but that everyone suddenly seems fine settling for worse stuff just because it was made faster.

But again, that's a human issue. Not a tech issue.

Jobs are disappearing before our eyes

Yes, AI is coming for some jobs. Maybe yours. Maybe mine. Maybe the ones we haven't even thought of yet. That's scary.

Goldman Sachs says AI could take over about two-thirds of today's jobs. But it's also creating new ones, which could help people shift into different kinds of work.

The truth is, AI could be used to make work better.

To automate the tedious stuff and give people more space to be creative. That's the version I'm rooting for. But we won't get there by hating it, unplugging everything, and walking away.

We'll get there by showing up, pushing for better policy, demanding ethical standards, and making noise when shortcuts hurt people.

Hating AI won't fix it. Engaging with it critically might.

"it's bAd fOr tHe eNvirOnmEnt"

Once, I heard someone say,

Don't forget the fact that it is contributing to global warming since it requires massive amounts of energy to train and operate.

Is AI super energy-intensive? Is it bad for the environment?" Good questions. Training large AI models does require a lot of power.

But many data centers, especially those owned by big cloud companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, are increasingly powered by renewable energy. Apple, for instance, is aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.

The demand from AI has helped fund green infrastructure via virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs).

AI isn't evil. It's not a savior either. It's a tool, a mirror for human intention. You can use it to scam people or make something beautiful. You can use it to create deepfakes or deepen your creativity. You can ignore it out of fear, or you can learn how to shape it with your values.

I'm pro-AI not because I think it's flawless, but because I think it's malleable. And the more thoughtful, curious, creative people actually engage with it, the better the outcomes will be.

So if you're mad at AI, cool. But get specific. Be mad at the lazy users. Be mad at the people replacing quality with quantity.

We don't get to choose whether AI exists.

We do get to choose what we do with it.