Is This Really the AI Utopia We Were Promised?
The Robots Are Coming...For Our Cookies?
So, I'm trying to read about the stock market's AI-fueled joyride, and I'm immediately hit with a pop-up demanding I acknowledge a "cookie notice." Seriously? Is this the freakin' future we were promised? Flying cars? Nah. Curing cancer? Get real. Instead, we're stuck in an endless loop of digital begging, robots asking for crumbs of our browsing history.
NBCUniversal, in its infinite wisdom, wants to track every click, every scroll, every fleeting moment of digital existence. For what? "Personalization?" Give me a break. It's about selling my eyeballs to the highest bidder, plain and simple.
And this isn't just some isolated incident. Every website, every app, every damn toaster oven is spying on us now. It’s like living in a digital panopticon, except instead of Bentham, it’s run by a bunch of marketing algorithms with a god complex.
AI Savior or Market Manipulation?
Okay, deep breaths. Let's talk about the "AI leaders" supposedly boosting the Nasdaq. Nasdaq closes higher to start November, boosted by Amazon and other AI leaders Amazon and OpenAI are making a $38 billion deal for computing power. Microsoft is throwing $9.7 billion at some data center operator to get their hands on Nvidia's chips.
Meanwhile, Trump is apparently declaring dibs on Nvidia's best chips for American companies. Because nothing says "free market" like government-mandated chip hoarding, right?
The market's up because of this? Is it genuine innovation and increased productivity, or just a bunch of corporations throwing money at each other and hoping the hype train keeps rolling?
I mean, let's be real, "AI" is the new buzzword. Slap it on anything, and suddenly it's worth billions. How much of this is actual progress and how much is just good old-fashioned market manipulation?
And what about the potential downsides? Job displacement? Algorithmic bias? The rise of Skynet? Nobody seems to be talking about that, offcourse.
The Kimberly-Clark/Kenvue Colossus
And then there's Kimberly-Clark buying Kenvue (the Tylenol people) for almost $49 billion. So, AI is making us all so healthy that we need MORE consumer healthcare products? Or is it all just more corporate consolidation to squeeze every last penny out of us?
It's a "cash-and-stock transaction." Translation: Kimberly-Clark is printing money (well, stock) to buy Kenvue. It's all Monopoly money at this point. And Kenvue stock soared on the news. Of course, it did. Insider trading, anyone? I'm just asking questions.
I mean, what does any of this even mean for the average person? Higher prices? Fewer choices? More ads? Probably all of the above.
So, What's the Catch?
I'm not saying AI is all bad. Maybe it'll cure cancer someday. Maybe it'll solve climate change. But right now, it feels like it's mostly being used to sell us more stuff and track our every move. And honestly, I'm not sure that's a future worth getting excited about.
