AI for Altruists: Understanding The Dangers of Artificial Intelligence

"A computer can never be held accountable. Therefore a computer must never make a management decision."

IBM Training Course Manual, 1979

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future concept. It’s here—embedded in everyday work life and how we write, design, communicate, and make decisions.

When used ethically and intentionally, AI can dramatically enhance human productivity by supporting research and writing and advanced calculations.

The problem we're facing isn’t the existence of AI—it’s how we relate to it.

Technology has always shaped society. But this moment feels different—because it's touching the core of what it means to be human.

AI should mirror our thinking, not replace it.

"The most heartbreaking part of AI is how we've made effort lame. What happened to the feeling of accomplishment? Of the reward of hard work? Of the joy in starting something new, being clueless, and slowly getting better? The process is the point. The learning is the point. To be human is not to optimize efficiency. It is to yearn, to try and fail, to struggle and overcome, to prove something to yourself. At some point you have to ask yourself what you are optimizing for. Why are you alive?"

Mike Rosenberg

Assistive AI vs. Generative AI

Before we talk about the dangers of AI it's imperative to clarify that not all AI is the same.

There’s a critical distinction we need to understand: Assistive AI supports human thinking—generative AI can begin to replace it.

And in that difference lies both the promise and the risk.

Assistive AI

Assistive AI helps you do what you were already doing—better and faster. It augments human capability and reduces friction.

Think:

• Spellcheck and grammar tools

• Search engines

• Data analysis and pattern recognition

• Navigation systems

Generative AI

Generative AI goes a step further—it creates outputs for you.

• Writing essays, blogs, captions

• Generating images, art, music

• Simulating conversation and emotional responses

Instead of supporting thought, it can actually think on your behalf (or at least appear to)

Ancestral Intelligence > Artificial Intelligence.

"Relational intelligence (RQ) is the essence of what it means to remain fully human in a world increasingly governed by algorithms, which is a hard requirement for human flourishing in the age of AI. When leaders invest in RQ, they’re not being soft. They’re being smart.”

Isabelle C. Hau 

Outsourcing of Human Experience

There are areas where humans still hold an irreplaceable edge over technology:

• Intuition and judgment

• Emotional connection and empathy

• Ethical reasoning

• Storytelling rooted in lived experience

• Creativity shaped by struggle and meaning

  
  

At its best, human intelligence, creativity and wisdom is built through:

• Effort

• Mistakes

• Consequences

• Lived experience

• Ideas

• Practice

• Failture

• Culture

• Relationships

When we begin outsourcing our human-ness to GenAI we risk losing the very processes that make us human.

• Writing → we weaken articulation

• Decision-making → we weaken judgment

• Creativity → we weaken originality

The deeper issue isn’t just technology—it’s agency and autonomy.

When AI becomes embedded in our daily communications and workflows, we need to start to wonder:

• Are we actually choosing our thoughts—or simply receiving them?

• Are we actually creating—or just curating outputs?

• Are we actually learning—or just skipping the process entirely?

  
  

“Human eyes and trained judgment are the best tools we have.”

NASA to Artemis II

"I hate genAI for a lot of reasons, but a big one is that it’s replaced my default state of awe with a default state of skepticism."

The Illusion of Understanding

Generative AI is incredibly good at:

• Synthesizing language

• Mimicking tone

• Predicting patterns

• Producing confident answers

But no matter how advanced it becomes, it does not:

• Experience reality

• Hold accountability

• Understand truth in a human sense

Generative AI may accelerate output but in the meantime it hollows and flattens the creative process.

With it, everything becomes:

• Instant

• Polished

• Effortless

So using it for writing and design, we risk replacing:

• Depth with speed

• Meaning with volume

• Originality with recombination

• Substance with surface

• Accuracy with approximation

• Context with convenience

Over time, this can really reduce trust in information systems.

AI is trying to sell you on the capitalist, patriarchal lie that creativity should be easy, fast, and efficient. Real artists understand that time and space are integral to deeply meaningful work. Creativity involves the journey into the messy middle - asking questions, sorting thoughts, confronting challenges like fear, boredom, joy, collaboration, and so much more.

The hard truth: Generative AI helps people avoid discomfort of doing the hard thing. Instead of researching, writing, analyzing, creating—we outsource it. It’s part of a larger pattern: using technology to numb, distract, and disconnect from what we feel. When we choose ease over uncomfortable emotions like grief, struggle, vulnerability, rejection, we miss out on where real growth and meaning begin.

Dangers of Generative AI

Ethical Tensions: Data, Ownership, and Attribution

One of the biggest concerns surrounding generative AI is how it is trained.

These systems learn from actual human-made

• Books

• Art

• Writing

• Public and private datasets

This raises real ethical questions:

• Who owns the output?

• Why weren't original creators credited or compensated?

• Where is the line between inspiration and extraction?

AI sycophancy is subtle flattery. When AI takes your raw ideas and restates them in a more compelling form, what you get back is a shinier version of what you started with. And that can be psychologically addictive.

Reminder: We can live without AI. We cannot live without water and land.

Environmental & Infrastructure Impact

AI relies on physical infrastructure:

• Data centers

• Energy systems

• Cooling and water usage

These systems require significant resources, and their expansion raises important concerns about energy consumption, environmental sustainability and longterm local community impact

While AI is not the only contributor to these issues, its rapid growth makes it part of a larger conversation about technology and resource responsibility.

It's a slippery slope for people who claim they need to use AI as a "thought partner" for idea generation. Are you truly partnering with it, or just outsourcing altogether?

Cognitive and Social Effects

There’s growing concern that overreliance on generative AI may impact our critical thinking skills, Memory and learning processes, and confidence in one’s own ideas - especially for younger generations whose brains and identities have not fully formed.

When people begin to default to AI for answers, validation, and expression, it can subtly shift behavior from active thinking to passive acceptance.

Over time, this looks like

• Homogenized voices

• Reduced originality

• A sense of disconnection

• Inauthentic expression

Reminder: You don't need to be faster, better, stronger. Work at a sustainable human pace. Practice slowness. Practice self-protection and collective care. Practice moving at the speed of your own capacity and limits.

Labor & Exploitation

It's dangerous when people are made to feel personally inadequate instead of questioning the system. Using genAI to “optimize your capacity” or "work more efficiently" can reinforce unhealthy expectations of constant productivity that are inherent to capitalist systems. It risks masking deeper issues and structural problems (low resources, unrealistic expectations, unmanageable workloads) rather than solving them.

In reality, gaining efficiency often leads to more demands, not more rest and reward.

Stop normalizing exploitation and overwork. If a tool helps you keep up with unsustainable demands, it may be worth questioning the demands—not just optimizing your ability to meet them.

"Critical thinking is a skill. Just like shooting a basketball. The more you do it, the better you'll be. If you have someone else do it for you, then eventually your thinking/writing will be clunky and so will your free throws.The irony is that by giving AI more of your inner thoughts to make it sound more like you, the outputs become increasingly distorted. AI can only work with what you've told it. New connections, unexpected sparks, the ideas that arrive sideways while you're working something out…those are lost. Your thinking turns into a feedback loop. By making AI more like you, you become less you."

Courtney Withrow

Emerging research shows that over-reliance on AI may reduce critical thinking and cognitive engagement. In other words, taking shortcuts or avoiding effort can impact long-term learning and neuroplasticity. So where's the line?

Ethical AI Use

Ethical AI refers to the development and use of artificial intelligence in ways that are fair, transparent, accountable, and aligned with people-over-profit values.

This looks like minimizing bias, protecting privacy, and ensuring systems are used responsibly and sustainably without causing harm to people or planet. It also means disclosing all of the risks of AI and ensuring every user has done their due diligence.

Here are some orgs to follow and support for anyone who wants to help make this vision a reality:

• Centre of Humane Technology

• Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance

• Green Software Foundation

• Open Future Foundation

• Green AI Institute

• Coalition for Sustainable AI

• Distributed AI Research Institute

• AI For Good

• OECD AI Policy Observatory

• Human Artistry Campaign

Autonomy isn’t lost all at once. It’s often surrendered in small moments of convenience.

AI is having its moment in the spotlight, but people will continue to crave human creativity. AI won’t end up replacing authentic, trustworthy, skilled and knowledgeable people who are commited to delivering service and value.

Final Thought

This isn’t a binary conversation of advancing technology, making a stance that “AI is good” or “AI is bad.” The conversation is ultimately about power systems, labor, and human value.

AI is not completely neutral—it reinforces and amplifies harmful systems. The challenge is using it ethically, for the good of all.

The real questions at this turning point in society, are

• Will we use AI to support our humanity—or slowly replace it?

• How do we balance convenience with critical thinking?

• How do we preserve human creativity, dignity, and connection?

Because if we continue to outsource our thinking, our creativity, our voice, we don't just loose those skills over time. We also lose connection—to ourselves, to others, and to reality.

The goal isn’t to reject AI tools altogether but instead to remain awake while using them.

We must remember that true perspective and wisdom is earned from LIVING. And that no system, no matter how advanced, can replace that.

AI Use Policy:

By using GenAI:

I accept the models were trained on stolen data.

I accept that the data was labeled by exploited workers.

I accept the environmental costs of the data centers running these models.

I accept that I am outsourcing some of my skills to a company.

I accept these companies don’t have a viable business model.

I accept that I am granting more power to big tech and their vision for the world.

I accept that I am granting more power to the United States.

I accept that all this effort could have been spent elsewhere.

Joep Schuurkes

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Erin Ratliff is a holistic business coach and consultant specializing in organic growth + visibility for heart-led, energy-sensitive soul-preneurs in pursuit of personal and planetary healing.

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