AI Will Replace You... if you let it:

Aug 26

ANTI-AI PERSPECTIVE

What are you afraid of?

We all are scared of AI to different extents. With such high impact on our daily lives in the personal, career, and educational spheres, it is natural to be worried about its impact. Today, we are diving into why people follow the Anti-AI perspective.

Many of our concerns about AI feel specific and personal, but they all stem from three overarching fears. Research across multiple studies highlights these categories, with the percentages showing how many Americans share each concern:

Fear #1. Dependency

Less creativity and drive (49%)
Less face-to-face social interactions (46%)
More human dependency on technology (50%)
Autonomy loss (my addition based on sentiment/research)

Fear #2. Lack of Transparency

Misuse and false information (76%)
Spreading of misleading content and deepfakes (63%)
Hidden usage (my addition based on sentiment/research)

Fear #3. Lack of Control

Little or no control over AI integration into life (60%)
Job loss (71%)
Bias (43%)
Trusting technology (46%)
Privacy concerns / cybersecurity risk (84%)

Why is there fear?

Because there is validity in the concerns:

HIDDEN AI: 57% of employees admitted to hiding their use of AI at work

JOB LOSS: ~78k tech job losses in just the first half of 2025 directly to AI and automation

CYBERSECURITY: 1 in 6 involved attackers using AI (most commonly phishing and deepfake impersonation)

Sources: Business Insider | Exploding Topics (Aug 2025) | IT Pro (Aug 2025)

The intense statistics affirm why there are trust issues surrounding AI. Numbers introduce actual problems, and these global, real world examples support them:

TikTok plans to replace hundreds of content roles with AI-driven systems (UK)
Commonwealth Bank of Australia replaced 45 customer service employees with AI-powered voice bots, only to reverse course when the technology underperformed
A University of Washington study tested how large language models (LLMs) ranked real-world resumes based on names associated with race and gender. They preferred white-associated names 85% of the time and female-associated names only 11%. It never favored Black male-associated names over white-associated.

Sources: The Times (Aug 2025) | Tech Radar (Aug 2025) | UWashington Edu (Oct 2024)

The three cases above validate the common fears and also demonstrate the need for human skill and increased preparation prior to implementation.

Although these are a few areas of lacking success in the AI field, this does not define the trajectory for how industries, companies, and individuals are integrating it. Large corporations are incorporating and improving AI successfully every single day. Knowing this, solely listening to and following these deep-rooted fears (loss of independence, transparency, control) are leading to unhealthy habits and perspectives on AI.

What Your Fear is Turning Into

Utilizing AI doesn’t mean it produced the entirety of one’s work.

1. Shaming

According to Psychology Today, many people report feeling “cheating” or “lazy” when they use or credit AI. This stems from shaming that often arises whenever AI is mentioned in someone’s process. We've become quick to discredit work touched by AI at any stage, leading many to hide their usage altogether. Shaming people leads to hiding genuine AI use, creating inaccuracies and raising security risks by removing transparency.

It is better to promote AI safety rather than building a culture of hiding it.

2. Inaction

Fear leads to inaction. This is not only found in AI. It is a natural reaction to avoid or take a stand against something you are fearful of or disagree with. For this anti-AI perspective, people strongly advocate for an extreme perspective: never use and refuse AI. That is not the solution. You will become obsolete (a huge fear for most) if you do not become open-minded on how to use AI in your life, career, and education in a healthy manner.

The Reality

Remaining fearful of AI cannot be the end of the conversation. Nearly half of technology leaders already report that AI is fully integrated into their company's core business strategy. Resistance is not a sustainable option.

Here are a few simplified ways that companies and individuals can leverage AI without feeding into the fears:

Dependency —> upskilling and increased human oversight
Transparency AI disclosure and fact-checking policies
Control —> governance frameworks and employee AI training

Completely shutting out AI puts you at a disadvantage for efficiency, speed, and research. Companies seek people who work efficiently and utilize their resources, not those who avoid tools that shape their future and strategy. This is not to say that producing entirely AI-curated content is the solution. Instead, understanding and learning how to balance will allow you to enhance your work, meet these changing standards, and make your life easier.

Upcoming in this series:

Pro-AI: Adopt AI with intention, not impulse (resist the shiny toy)

Reach out with how you might apply this to your life or any feedback and thoughts this piece sparked.

Sureya Alex