by Jules Older
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and I have history. I've written half a dozen or so articles about it. Frequently posted about it. Organized an international meeting about it. Been savaged for my views on it. And occasionally — very occasionally — made use of it.
My first article, Can psychologists be replaced by a bot?, appeared in the January, 2023 Vermont Digger. My most recent, Older: AI and work putting money where mouth is, ran in the March, 2026 Vermont Business Magazine.
In all this, I've summed up my core beliefs about AI in eight short words:
It’s dangerous,
It’s useful,
It’s here to stay.
Let’s focus on those first two words: It’s dangerous.
One of the dangers — one of the clear-and-present dangers — is that artificial intelligence is gonna make some of the already-way-too-rich even richer … while making the working poor even poorer. That's not just a danger; it’s happening now.
Now is hardly the first time this has happened. During the Great Depression, the filthy rich were getting richer, and the workers were getting screwed. Here's a couple of verses from a 1930s song, I don't want your millions, Mister:
I don't want your millions, Mister
I don't want your diamond ring
All I want is the right to live, Mister
Give me back my job again
We worked to build this country, Mister
While you enjoyed a life of ease
You've stolen all that we built, Mister
Now our children starve and freeze
And what do you conclude from this, Jules? Should we fight AI tooth and nail?
No. That battle was lost the moment people realized that the second line was true: It’s useful. From building cars to replacing knees, from taking notes to searching data, writing haiku to designing book covers, AI is almost indisputably useful.
Book covers? Her publisher informed my wife that, because his cover illustrator was unavailable, her Christmas book would be delayed — delayed for a full year. Effin felt devastated. I said, “Let me give it a try.” Here's what AI and I came up with:
And that's one of the few times I've used AI … that, and the subsequent covers AI and I designed for her next books.
Which brings us to my third line: It’s here to stay. Which it is — at least until something faster, stronger, even more useful comes along and replaces it … just as AI is replacing workers today. And by the way, I believe AI will turn unprecedented numbers of employees into ex-employees.
So, what do you think we should we do?
I'm not a prophet. I don't know what the weather’s gonna be tomorrow, much less what AI is going to accomplish/improve/destroy next. All I can suggest/implore/urge is that we elect people who know something about electronic wizardry and care about the plight of just plain folks. We need to elect them and un-elect the no-nothings/care-nothings currently in power.
Oh, and that action doesn't start in the voting booth. It starts now, putting in the work needed to bring on change.
Will that be hard?
Yes.
Will it be dangerous?
Quite possibly.
Will it succeed?
I surely do not know.
But here's what I do know: If we do nothing, we have no-one to blame for our condition but ourselves.
Jules Older has been a disc jockey and medical educator, clinical psychologist and TV villain, writer and filmmaker. Jules’ work has won awards in four countries. He’s lived in two of them — the USA and New Zealand. Jules’ latest kid’s books include Special Ed and the White Force.
To support vital journalism, access our archives and get unique features like our award-winning profiles, Book of Lists & Business-to-Business Directory, subscribe HERE!
Vermont Business Magazine