Defeating AIs with a screwdriver

AIs are the new computers

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I’ve heard a lot of parallels: “the advent of AIs is like the advent of X back in the days”. I think that is simply the advent of computers. Do you remember what people were saying about the first computers?

Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.

Pablo Picasso 196x

But:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Arthur C. Clarke, 1962

An AI is helping me right now to fix English errors I often make. As well as the computer I am observing now, let me write it. Different helps, but the same thing. People were negative about new computers. Many jobs became obsolete, new job types emerged, and the world changed for the better.

Or not?

The data center where this article’s database will be stored generates more pollution than if I had typed it and hidden the paper in a drawer. This is the world. It changes, with pros and cons. Machines help humans and were invented for that purpose.

A computer? Do I need one? Is my phone enough?

No, you don’t, because something does things for you, and you become smarter and smarter.

I started writing a book about AIs and other cyberpunk-related stuff many years ago (+20). Natura Macchina (in Italian). The world where the protagonist lives has no computers. You can’t have one. People have only terminals. All the computation on your not-so-smartphone and whatever computers are done in the government-controlled central data center.

Those are empty machines, with only enough processing power to display the pixels downloaded from the net. Having a real computer meant fighting for it, building it, and having your AI work offline.

Is this a dystopic future? Of course, because I love dark books.

When WoW came out, I would take the car and drive 40km to a place with an internet connection, then 40 km back. Then ADSL arrived, and that place closed. If I think about it today, I do it with a smile, and I’m sure I will do the same in the future, think about when I wrote this post.

Until next time. And thanks to all the AIs involved in writing this post. Much appreciated.

@online{zaerl2026-ais-are-the-new-computers,
  author = {Francesco Bigiarini},
  title = {AIs are the new computers},
  date = {2026-02-13},
  url = {https://zaerl.com/2026/02/13/ais-are-the-new-computers/},
  urldate = {2026-02-13}
}

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