And yes, with all that tinkering I’m probably putting a few photographers and illustrators out of work. Still, I’m the one who decides what I want to say. AI feels like an over-eager assistant. But I’m stay in charge, not my machines.

Meanwhile, AI is becoming more important by the day. Music reaches the charts without musicians. Language models write texts without writers. Images, decisions, advice — all algorithm-driven. Useful, sometimes almost magical, but it raises one question:
who is steering whom?

In my book 2125 – The Hibernator, Max runs into the same issue. His virtual assistant Ilse knows everything — to an irritating degree. Except when it comes to his emotions.

“I’m sorry, Max,” Ilse says. “I’m not allowed to help you with psychological issues.”
To which Max mutters: “One century gone and even the computers have rules now.”

And that is precisely the question of our time.
AI isn’t going away. Just like the printing press, the steam engine, Henry Ford’s assembly line, the first labour union, the internet. First resistance, then acceptance, and eventually we can’t live without it.

So the real challenge isn’t whether AI will come, but who gets to set the rules. And that should never be a small group who put their own interests above the public good. We need people with a moral compass, with transparency and responsibility.

Always: humans above the machine.

And in the meantime, I’ll keep playing with these models — it’s simply too much fun to stop.
2125 is closer than it seems.

Fons Burger is a journalist and author with over 50 years of experience. He publishes to bring forward bright minds and systemic solutions for a planet under pressure. The absence of long-term, comprehensive thinking is threatening the future of the next generation. In February, his new book The Only Possible Solution will be published worldwide.