In this article, I will briefly describe what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, what it has come to change in our lives and everyday routines, and the potential dangers it carries.
Cole Stryker, in his article “What is AI?” published on IBM’s website, states that AI is a technology that enables computers and machines to imitate human learning, understanding, problem-solving, and decision-making.
In the year 2025, every electronic device possesses some form of AI capability. These capabilities include:
• Seeing and recognizing objects
• Understanding and responding to human language
• Learning from new information and experiences
• Making recommendations to users and professionals based on data and predictions
• Acting autonomously without human intervention (e.g., a self-driving car)
Every single day, every minute and second that passes, AI systems become hundreds thousands perhaps even millions of times more intelligent, thanks to the human factor that feeds and trains them.
While we may be fascinated by the convenience and sophistication of AI models, are we truly heading in the right direction? Could our reckless reliance on AI actually be weakening us, making us intellectually lazier and less capable?
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, stated that “a child born today will never be smarter than AI.” If we think about it, this is both terrifying and a powerful warning. It means that a human creation is gradually surpassing its creator becoming smarter than humans themselves, and turning into an essential, inseparable part of daily life.
I had the opportunity to attend the 5th Annual Cyber Greece Conference, with this year’s theme being “The Future Powered by A.I.” During the event, I heard various thought-provoking opinions. One of the most striking was from Ioannis Mastrogeorgiou, Special Secretary for Long-Term Planning in the Office of the Greek Prime Minister, who highlighted two major risks associated with AI:
Anthropomorphism the tendency to believe that what we are interacting with is human. This can lead many emotionally vulnerable or young individuals to seek companionship and advice from AI systems, sometimes even driving them toward tragic outcomes such as suicide.
Intellectual Weakening the risk of delegating everything to AI. This results in people no longer exercising their own minds, expecting quick and effortless answers without verifying their accuracy.
No technological advancement has ever been designed to make life worse. It is entirely up to us how we use and manage it whether we make AI a powerful ally or allow it to become the beginning of our own downfall.
In my opinion, the greatest danger is intellectual weakening. More and more people rely on AI for everything: to search for information, to write assignments, articles, code virtually anything imaginable. This leads us to lose our critical thinking skills and become increasingly passive. Combined with the digital age, social media overuse, and constant dependence on technology, we are becoming mentally weaker heading, with mathematical certainty, toward the decline of humankind as we know it today.
Grigorios Avramidis – Computer Engineer & MSc Cybersecurity Student
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