When AI replaces everyday thinking

Opinions expressed in Viewpoints are the author’s own.

“Make her be chained to the bed, crying, legs apart. Make sure to use her real face.”

This is an actual prompt, submitted openly via X to the AI chatbot Grok. It is just one of many in the wave of users who are using AI to generate deep-fake pornographic content featuring real women and children.

Just to be clear: there is certainly no shortage of pornographic and abuse-related material on the internet. These users are not looking for sexualised content – they want to create it, against the victim’s will. And they want to use real faces belonging to real women who have not given their consent. The absence of consent is the whole point.

Grok was developed by Elon Musk’s company, xAI. It was added to the federal procurement system by Donald Trump last year, shortly after he signed a ban on ‘woke AI’.

Ironically, the long list of things Trump has signed also includes the so-called Take It Down Act. This imposes stricter penalties for the distribution of things such as deep-fake porn and revenge porn. However, despite protests from various American stakeholder groups, Grok has not been removed from federal systems. On the contrary, the Pentagon began using it in January.

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A dystopian view on AI

At a conference in Washington D.C. in March, Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, said, “We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter”.

Many people have reacted to this statement, which could be interpreted as implying that intelligence is going to be automated away from humans and turned into a product.

This vision of intelligence as a consumer product may sound a bit dystopian.

It is ironic that Altman’s analogy mentions both electricity and water – resources that AI systems of the type he describes consume in enormous quantities, which in turn leads to higher living costs for citizens. Another unmentioned irony is that these AI systems have been developed using data stolen from the very people who are footing the bill for this huge increase in demand for resources.

Irony aside, the vision of intelligence as a consumer product is rather dystopian. AI tools are increasingly taking over our small decisions and moments of reflection: what to eat, where to travel, how to resolve conflicts.

Research shows that over time, this kind of cognitive offloading weakens both our ability and our willingness to think critically. If we compensate for our diminished cognitive abilities by purchasing intelligence from AI companies, this will effectively result in a transfer of intelligence from our own minds to a handful of market players.

First and foremost, this raises questions about access, the concentration of power and who decides what is true. How else can we know what is true, if not by using our intelligence? Next, it becomes a question of freedom.

In the literature on innovation, freedom is usually described as one of the main driving forces behind technological advancements. However, if this current stage of development frees us from having to think, who will decide what the next step will be?

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Another magical Disney concept

Last year, Mattel (the maker of Barbie) collaborated with OpenAI to create ‘AI-powered products and experiences’. The goal is to ‘bring the magic of AI to age-appropriate play experiences’.

The wording presents AI as a magical new Disney concept. AI is obviously not magic, even though advanced technology may seem like magic to consumers. It remains to be seen whether it is a good idea to introduce AI-based technology into children’s play or not, but Mattel’s motivation behind the collaboration is clear: like many others, they want to be ahead of the curve when it comes to AI.

This desire is becoming increasingly widespread. Several companies, including Meta, Duolingo, Fiverr and Shopify, have been open about pressuring their employees to use AI tools.

The dogma that AI must be used for absolutely everything makes it an end rather than a means.

The CEO of Fiverr wrote in an email to employees that “AI is coming for your jobs”. Shopify’s Chief Executive said they evaluate employees based on how much they use AI in their work, and Zapier’s CEO stated that it is unacceptable for HR staff to oppose the use of AI tools in the process of hiring new employees.

There is no doubt that AI technology can make us better, but the dogma that AI must be used for absolutely everything makes it an end rather than a means.

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AI is the goal

AI providers stand to benefit from having their products integrated into our habits and culture. AI functionality is found almost everywhere, including in emails, social media, cars, smartphones, glasses, washing machines, refrigerators – and soon, toys as well. People are currently being encouraged to use AI for simple tasks that we used to do with our brains.

The more we use AI tools without a second thought, the easier it becomes for providers to offer ever-new AI technology – including technology that is worthless or harmful.

In some places, AI has been integrated as a default setting, and there is little we can do to avoid it. For example, my email client is adamant that it should help me write my emails. The CEO of Meta has also stated that we should become close friends with chatbots.

Forget the causes behind the loneliness epidemic or the risks associated with AI psychosis; AI is the goal. The more we use AI tools without a second thought, the easier it becomes to offer ever-new AI technology – including technology that is worthless or harmful. And if there is one thing AI companies stand to gain from, it is a society of dependent users – especially now that they are having to do everything in their power to prevent the AI bubble from bursting.

Using AI products is not the same as having AI expertise

It is no coincidence that the world’s most powerful companies are experts when it comes to AI: AI is incredibly useful for achieving goals. However, using AI products is not the same as having AI expertise. Dependence on commercial AI products turns us into consumers at the mercy of a development controlled by others.

I suggest that we start distinguishing between two situations when discussing the use of AI in Norway: if a company uses an AI system it has developed itself, we should say that it uses AI. If, however, they use an externally developed AI system that they could not have developed themselves, we should say that they have outsourced parts of their business to an AI provider.

What really needs to be protected

The issue runs deeper than just the explicit use of AI tools, precisely because AI functionality is being integrated into an increasing number of systems.

Technology shapes not only our habits, but also how we perceive reality.

A recent case that illustrates this well is the opposition to the Government’s new proposal to lower the minimum age limit for social media. These arguments are based on the idea that children’s freedom of expression and access to information must be protected, while what really needs protecting is children’s freedom to live in a reality different from the one they are immersed in by AI-driven recommendation algorithms.

The truth is that every time authorities are paralyzed by the difficulty of designing or finding the necessary technical and legal solutions to protect consumers from the power of AI companies, a little bit more of that power is handed over to those very companies.

Technology shapes not only our habits, but also how we perceive reality. Beyond the economic and sovereignty-related reasons for not relying on American AI providers, we ought to have an ambition of wanting to decide for ourselves which opportunities we see and what kind of future we are able to envision.

This opinion piece was first published in Aftenposten on May 17, 2026