I Tested AI, and All I Got Was This Existential Crisis
4 minute read / by Sam Daugherty / August 21st, 2025
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I've grown to love AI. At first, it felt like a necessity: "I'd better learn this before it takes my job." But then I realized that I can do so much more with it, and my use of AI over the last six months has increased exponentially as a result. Every new experiment or test sparks a flood of ideas. And it's truly magical. But, every time I write a prompt, I know I'm destroying entire communities… and the planet. And I don't like the way it makes me feel.
Photo by ALEXANDRE DINAUT on Unsplash
I know I'm not alone in this either. I posed the question recently and got a mix of responses that made me feel less alone, but not any better. Every day, there's a new article about how AI is ruining water supplies, building their own power plants, or using enough energy to power millions of homes.
And, if you sit and dwell on it, that's kind of fucked up. I mean, I'm a proponent of nuclear energy, despite all the fear-mongering around it. But cleaner sources of energy were supposed to help us save the world, not speed up its destruction.
And if that wasn't depressing enough, there's another angle that hits me even harder: what it's doing to our kids.
It's Always About the Kids
Recently, there's been a lot of research showing that increased use of AI is making us all dumber, but that's especially harmful for kids who are using it as a substitute for critical thinking at a time when they should be strengthening those skills. And, worst of all, AI can tell you how to commit suicide. Something that's already increasing amongst teens.
The ethical problems surrounding AI are prolific. But so are the potential ways in which it can help us. It's both the problem and the solution, in more ways than one. But we haven't solved for the problematic parts yet. It's why I won't let my own children use it.
Don't get me wrong. They can use it with me, like when we used ChatGPT to create a summer reading list based on their interests. And my daughter and I made Godzilla Cats in Midjourney, which is certainly fun. But I'm keeping them from it for as long as I can. I worry that it will destroy their ability to research and think for themselves. I want it to become a tool, not a crutch. Adolescent years are a crucial time in brain development.
I'm keeping them from it for as long as I can. I want it to become a tool, not a crutch.
And, for that, I feel like a huge hypocrite. They see me use it. They hear me talk about the things I'm building with it. They know I'm a prolific user. My actions don't match my words. But my brain is done developing, or at least I think it is.
It's Social Media All Over Again
As I type these paragraphs, I see a strong correlation to the rise of Social Media. When MySpace came out, it felt magical too. Humans across the globe were in this place, and we were all connected. The potential for good was calling to us. I have IRL friends that I first met online.
Photo by mali desha on Unsplash
Then we let the worst people ruin it all. Once the dollars poured in, it became about data mining, rage-baiting, and doing everything algorithmically possible to destroy our self-esteem and keep us scrolling. Ten years later, we used this magical connector-of-all-peoples to orchestrate actual genocides and the rise of fascism in the West again. And we continue finding new ways to make it even worse, every day.
Just like with social media and the organizations trying to force ethics upon it, we have organizations clamoring to create “ethical AI.” None of it is working. And again, I tell my kids it's a terrible place full of the worst of humanity, while they watch me use it and share reels with my wife.
I know. I'm a hypocrite.
Don't Worry, I'll Live
So how can I know all of this about the destruction and the hypocrisy, and still keep using AI? I wish I had some neat answer, some advice to help you not feel like shit every time you prompt it for a recipe. But I don't. That's the existential crisis I live in daily.
My feed is split between “how to write better prompts” and “every time you use ChatGPT, a dolphin dies.” Okay, maybe not quite that extreme, but close enough. We're certainly inching toward making whole regions of the planet unlivable.
We're certainly inching toward making whole regions of the planet unlivable.
Data is powerful, but storing and processing it at this scale will destroy us.
Yet I'm still prompting. Still teaching people how to talk to AI for better results. I know I'm a hypocrite. But I don't know how else to be. Struggling to stay in survival mode, just for the sake of bucking the system, seems like a no-win situation. It's harming myself and my family, all for the pride of holding my head high and saying, “At least I'm not one of those people!”
Or, perhaps I've just gotten used to comfort. Embracing AI seems like the only path to maintaining that and continuing to be this. Be one of those people.
One day, I'll learn how to feel about that. For now, I'll ask ChatGPT how to cope with it.