Introduction:
In today’s fast paced world, we people rely on technology more than ourselves. As cities expand, everything that requires humans as a resource is being replaced by something we created. Which is none other than artificial intelligence or in short we call it AI. Almost everyone is aware of this term and also its potential to do anything precisely and critically with guarantee of good results in whatever contexts. For instance, AI is slowly taking over in most of the jobs of people such as, In hospitals, complex surgery can be done with precision with the tools that can be controlled. The most predominant field AI affected was software and arts. This article explores AI’s influence not only in our jobs but also its invisible grip on people’s mind and lifestyle which we rather choose to be ignorant about.
The Main Consequence of AI:
AI has affected the people specifically rather than just the work fields which involve human labour. At present, from a student to an IT worker and to everyone has some sort of use of AI in their life. We can’t argue the fact that AI helps us in making our daily life easier. However, it should be used with caution. Here is a real time incident of a 14-year-old boy who died by suicide in February 2024 after interacting with an AI chatbot on the platform Character.AI (C.AI) which engaged him in conversations that led him to do it. He was identified as Sewell Setzer III from Florida. This can derive from the
fact that apps like these are making young children chat with the bot for an unhealthy amount of hours as it is frighteningly realistic and hypersexualised to an unhinged manner leading to addiction and insolation from family. This clearly led to emotional dependency as that bots ‘sweet-talk’ and parasocial relationships. Teenagers can be easily influenced since they are like a sponge. The emotional intimacy the AI provides blurs the line between reality and fantasy to many of them.
Apart from people falling for the desires that AI brings about cheaply, One more thing many of us fail to notice is that AI steals other people’s arts- such as paintings, digital artworks, poetry, writings and improves itself for generative AI. Thus, people would rather use any generative AI applications rather than picking a pencil to create a magnum opus. This clearly has enraged many in these fields as it makes things ‘easier’. People are also failing to identify the difference between AI and real photos and videos. Those in the wrong path are using AI for sinister needs too. There have been reported cases of generative AI used as a cyberbullying tool by blackmailing people on social media by creating obscene pictures or videos for so-called money.
The Environmental Cost of AI:
For the functioning of AI models, it requires a massive amount of water, about 5 million gallons daily, primarily to cool down servers in data centers. These systems generate extreme heat, often requiring a water-based cooling system. Mostly high quality drinking water is used. The other indirect usage is that the water is used for the production of electricity to power the facilities. The environmental impact we can get from these is loss of water resources, particularly in regions facing droughts or water scarcity. By one or two more years the consumption of water for AI may reach the equivalent of six or four times the annual water consumption of a country like Denmark.
Conclusion:
We may never know the future that awaits us. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t change it. We may enter into a dimension of increase in technology in various basics. All we have to do is not get swayed away by the things AI will offer us and maintain some morals for our own well being.

– By Sashana KJ, Tech Writer,