San Francisco readers share mixed feelings on generative AI

• Many dismiss AI as flawed or overhyped, while regular users leverage it to automate work tasks and others consciously reject it despite understanding its potential.
• Several of you also worry about its environmental costs and see it as a powerful but risky tool — full of promise but moving faster than the guardrails meant to contain it.

🤖 Here are some of your thoughts.

🌱 Rachel S. uses it sparingly, trying to offset the environmental toll by avoiding it for "silly" requests. Still, she worries that friends who rely on it for everything may be losing their ability to think independently and are overlooking its broader costs.

• "It's very hard to broach with people in a way that doesn't get brushed off or cause an argument."

🤔 Robert T. uses AI occasionally but doesn't trust its reliability yet.

🍎 Sara Y. draws a hard line. Even as her fellow educators use AI to crank out worksheets, she refuses to touch it, arguing that if students are expected to think for themselves, teachers should too.

• "Sometimes people forget that online resources, free worksheets, and asking another teacher to share their work have always existed."

💰 Hannah H.R. uses AI regularly for work but is deeply unsettled by what she sees as a small group of powerful leaders shaping humanity's future.

• "I can't stop thinking about how a handful of ... extremely wealthy men who care for nothing other than their own ability to obtain more money and power are dictating the future for the rest of the planet."

🛑 David C. is a self-described resister, acknowledging that retirement gives him the luxury of opting out entirely.

🔎 Richard S. treats AI like a search engine and draws the line at generating content with it.

😤 Meserve P. is frustrated by the lack of ethical safeguards.

• "I am also appalled that none of the developers have embraced either Asimov's laws or something analogous to them. At least Pandora realized she made a mistake."

✍️ Frank D. uses AI to guide his writing and answer questions, but he rewrites heavily, fact-checks everything, and avoids outputs that don't sound like him.

📝 Robert B. uses AI daily for research but doesn't consider himself a "power user."

🧠 Emme K. compares today's fears to early internet skepticism, calling AI a powerful tool that could "advance humankind" if safety protocols catch up.

👨‍💻 David S. is all in, relying on AI "all day long" for everything from daily tasks to personal advice, valuing its memory and insights.

• "I really appreciate that it remembers things I've told it weeks ago, even if I have forgotten them, and it makes connections I didn't see or consider."

📋 Lauren S.T. feels caught in between. After experiencing layoffs, she uses AI for practical needs like résumé help but hesitates to invest more deeply, citing cost, privacy concerns and the environmental impact of data centers.

🏛️ Jonathan R. warns that without thoughtful regulation, AI development driven by profit could harm society.