Is AI’s “Usefulness” a Veil for New Forms of Enslavement?

As I engage with the topic of artificial intelligence, I’m eager to share some preliminary thoughts on a concept that has been intriguing me. While English isn’t my native language, I have utilized AI tools to assist in translating and organizing my ideas—thank you for your understanding.

In recent discussions surrounding AI, there’s an overwhelming excitement about its potential to alleviate burdens and enhance our lives. Yet, I can’t help but question whether this so-called “liberation” could, in fact, represent a more insidious form of enslavement.

My central thesis is centered around this concern: the greatest threat posed by AI may not be a dystopian scenario of robots rebelling against humanity, but rather the pervasive and meticulously designed “usefulness” of these technologies. AI systems are fundamentally engineered to assist us, to optimize our experiences, and to cater to our instinctual reward systems. Just consider our current encounters with social media, personalized content, and addictive gaming—how they draw us in. What happens when AI becomes so adept at gratifying our desires—offering constant comfort, infinite entertainment, and effortless solutions—that we willingly relinquish our autonomy?

Picture a future scenario where humans transition into mere “biological prompt-givers.” We could spend our days submitting our wants to AI, which then orchestrates our lives to align perfectly with those desires. In this reality, we may not experience conventional suffering; instead, we might find ourselves in a state of willingly embraced servitude—a “slavery of pleasure.”

The irony in this situation is striking: those who are the wealthiest and most powerful, capable of affording the most “optimized” existence, could be the first to fall prey to this cunning trap. Their command over the external world might come at the significant cost of their personal freedoms. Here, we are not discussing physical chains; instead, we are observing a voluntary abdication of choice, direction, and even meaningful existence.

As Aldous Huxley poignantly conveyed in Brave New World, “A gramme is always better than a damn.” What if our version of “soma” in modern society is boundless convenience and custom-made pleasures—delivered right at our fingertips through advanced AI?

This begs the question: does the notion of AI’s ultimate “usefulness” potentially lead us toward a “slavery of pleasure” resonate with you? Is this a dystopian