We are living in a truly remarkable time. AI is everywhere now, and the advancements have smashed through every ceiling and prediction.
Denmark just made it mandatory to add spoken tests for every take-home exam. Why? A written essay alone, no longer proves a student did the work themselves. So now, they have to explain their answers out loud too. Meanwhile, AI bootcamps are booming, mainly because workers are rushing to learn new skills before their jobs become redundant.
Something similar is happening to dating apps. Ditto was created for US college students as an alternative to swiping. It uses AI to match you with someone by text, then sends you both on a real date. Less time on your phone, more time with an actual person.
And in a move that is genuinely raising eyebrows: Albania has given an AI bot named Diella, a seat in cabinet, in charge of APPROVING GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS. They’re looking at transferring more decisions from their human ministers to the AI over time.
Not to be outshone by Elon Musk, whose company, xAI, is helping push a legal fight to stop everyday people and local councils from suing tech companies that break the law. At the very same time, xAI itself is being sued over pollution from gas turbines at its data centre near a community in Memphis.
So what does all this add up to? We are seeing people trying to prove they still matter next to a machine that can write and work faster than them. The Ditto app, proves that dating today has become impossible, and if good jobs and homes already feel out of reach, it’s no wonder young people want AI to help with the one thing left — meeting someone.
Diella is sold as an incorruptible employee of the state, impossible to bribe, sure. But when something goes wrong, there’s no person to blame, just a computer program. And Musk’s agenda shows exactly what’s at stake. AI is claiming power over our exams, our love lives, and our governments. At the same time, the people building it are working overtime to make sure no one can hold them responsible in court for when it gets things wrong.
So how are we supposed to keep it in check? Is a computer algorithm deciding things for us really democracy, or is it the end of it?
