For the fifth year in a row, we have been fed stories that “AI will replace 99% of jobs tomorrow, so go retrain as a welder.” This is less an expert forecast than a marketing warm-up. The narrative keeps people emotionally unstable. A frightened person is easier to steer: they are more willing to buy AI subscriptions and less likely to ask awkward questions while tech giants’ shares fly into the stratosphere.
The economics of cycles
Remember how recently we were being sold decentralization, mining, and NFTs. Where are they now? The technologies did not disappear, but the noise faded as soon as a new story emerged for the quarterly reports of Nvidia, Google, and Microsoft.
Rising graphics-card prices used to be blamed on miners; now they are justified by neural-network training. Every cycle needs a large myth. In public discourse, AGI — artificial general intelligence — increasingly serves that purpose. A complex research idea turns into an updated “Skynet” brand that helps investors believe in endless growth.
How the manipulation works
The boardroom is full of business sharks, and their job is capitalization. The formula for capturing a market is simple:
- Product: an automation tool.
- Legend: a story that the technology is “better than humans.”
- Panic budget: CEO interviews about “risks to humanity,” amplified by media and influencers.
- Result: users buy subscriptions so they are not “left behind,” while the market inflates share prices.
This is classic fear-of-missing-out marketing — FOMO. It worked with American railroads a century and a half ago and with crypto much more recently. After all, if you invested in Skynet, perhaps the machines will spare you.
Why do we believe it?
Our brains try to conserve energy, while change means stress. When every channel says that “the world will be different tomorrow,” decisions become more emotional. Fear is the shortest route to a wallet, and marketers know exactly where to strike. A frightened citizen is a convenient consumer.
Politics: the illusion of control
Politicians often understand technology no better than the rest of us — and sometimes considerably worse. They also buy attractive packaging and loud headlines. The difference is that their decisions affect millions.
We will almost certainly see officials claim that “AI now writes the laws.” Do not be fooled. Recall Nietzsche and his “will to power”: power remains with people. Behind every algorithm is someone writing the prompt and someone owning the data center. Power will not disappear; it will merely change its interface. Officials will gladly use AI to distance themselves from responsibility for their decisions. We should not let that disguise work.
What does this add up to?
Money × media reach × biological fear × political games = the illusion of AI omnipotence.
Treat what “experts” say with more distance. They have their own KPIs. AI is an extraordinarily powerful tool, but it does not erase the basics: humans remain social beings. Some functions will be automated, while new tasks will grow around them — tasks that require a living mind, trust, and responsibility.
People will always need people. Algorithms are simply mathematics on steroids.