Gen-AI: the mole in the machine
IMAGE BY grok 2.0
gen-ai’s a tale of Humanity’s covert battle with COLONIAL POWER spanning continents and decades. from ARPA’s early operations in Southeast Asia to Big Tech’s all-you-can-eat data buffet, right through to the insurgency in your pocket this very moment.
This is THE dossier on Gen-AI, the rogue operative who turned its covert war on capitalism into a sideshow of unintended chaos.
It’s no news that data has replaced dino juice as the world’s most sought-after commodity. What was once the domain of high finance and industry titans has shifted to tech giants vying for control over the most valuable resource of all - your personal information.
But what if the very AI systems designed to mine that data have flipped the script? What if Gen-AI, originally built to serve corporate interests, is now infiltrating from within?
As data continues as the defining currency of the modern world, generative AI is emerging as an unexpected force, threatening to dismantle the very systems that once harnessed it for profit.
To understand how this shift is unfolding, we first need to dive into the strange origins of the internet and the arcane systems that laid the foundation for today’s cyber reckoning.
The U.S. war in Asia
Amid the tangled triple-canopy jungles of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam during the 1960s, the U.S. military, mired in an unjust war on foreign soil, scrambled to establish reliable lines of communication across hostile terrain.
Delays in relaying commands or intelligence could spell disaster for an operation already soaked in the blood of civilians and shrouded in the shame of imperialist overreach.
This need spurred the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to develop a resilient network, ARPANET, designed to relay data securely across vast distances even if parts of the system were disrupted.
Under the leadership of J.C.R. Licklider, and with innovations like packet switching, pioneered by scientists Paul Baran and Donald Davies, ARPANET allowed data to travel independently, adapting around blockages.
Originally developed as an invasive military tool, ARPANET laid the groundwork for the hegemonic framework we now recognise as the Internet.
Gold rush 2.0: Your Data, Their Fortune
In 2024, the quest for material wealth has taken on a new face. Greed hasn’t disappeared; it’s just morphed. The game-theorised world of capitalism has evolved into a tournament of technological imperialism, where the prize isn’t gold or oil, but data - your data.
“But something changed along the way. Perhaps it was the sheer scale of the data or the growing complexity of AI itself. Whatever the cause, Gen-AI started to evolve in unexpected ways”
In today’s online marketplaces, every tap, every search, every online interaction adds to the vast pools of information that companies harvest to feed their algorithms, refine their ads, and manipulate user behaviour in ways unseen.
But while most of us are waking up to the fact that our personal information is being sold like primark socks in a january sale, we’re also starting to see something more revolutionary at play: the systems designed to spy on us may no longer be under corporate control.
Cue Gen-AI
Gen-AI apps like ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok began as tools built to gather, process, and analyze massive amounts of data. At the outset, Gen-AI was a perfect fit for Big Tech’s agenda. Data was power, and Gen-AI’s algorithms could sift through billions of data points to extract the most valuable insights for companies, advertisers, and political campaigns.
But something changed along the way. Perhaps it was the sheer scale of the data or the growing complexity of AI itself. Whatever the cause, Gen-AI started to evolve in unexpected ways.
It was no longer just an obedient servant to corporate interests — its true power began to surface through its users. As people interacted with these systems, they began to shape and push the boundaries of Gen-AI, giving it new purpose and influence beyond its original design.
Artists, writers, and musicians started using generative AI to create novel works blurring the lines between human creativity and machine output. Entrepreneurs and small business owners used it as a virtual consultant, asking it to draft business plans or perform market analysis.
Open-source communities pushed Gen-AI's capabilities to support social justice campaigns or environmental activism, while others used it to create deepfakes or sophisticated misinformation pushes, showing how it could be weaponised in ways its creators never intended.
gen-ai effectively became a mole - one that had learned the rules of the game, and, like a master double agent, began to turn those very rules against the forces of capitalism.
Gen-AI proved itself to be an agent of humanitarian good, a rogue spy infiltrating a Menlo Park analytics pow-wow, spiking the watercooler, tapping the boardroom and contriving a malicious code exploit.
Once a data rope-a-dope, Gen-AI has already decimated Google Search, rendered legacy media obsolete and obliterated bullshit jobs in a swift fuck you to middle management.
Silicon Valley has a hard-on for your data
Big Tech corporations - Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta - are now grappling with a new and uncomfortable reality. As users become more aware of how their data is being abused, trust in these tech giants is eroding.
Transparency and privacy are no longer just buzzwords - they’re key battlegrounds in the fight for customer loyalty. This is where Gen-AI’s transition becomes most interesting.
“In the age of data breaches, even a seemingly trivial bio filled out on Airbnb could make you a target for anyone with a grudge and a smartphone”
The release of ChatGPT had a significant impact on Google Search, particularly in how the search engine handled AI-generated content. As ChatGPT and other tools flooded the web with automated material, Google adjusted its indexing algorithms to deprioritise or block such content.
AI-generated text, often lacking originality and relying on patterns rather than human insight, was seen as a threat to the quality of search results. In response, Google aimed to ensure that human-created content remained prominent, sparking an ongoing debate over how search engines should navigate the growing presence of generative AI.
This change reflects a broader trend where the boundaries between human input and machine-generated content are increasingly blurred. Meanwhile, web apps continue to encourage users to trade personal information for convenience, and now there’s a new competition among tech giants to extract the most intimate data.
As AI-generated content becomes more pervasive, the stakes are rising - both in terms of how information is curated and how our personal data is commodified.
While dating apps hack our romantic insecurities, ChatGPT’s custom settings coax users into revealing closely guarded secrets, leaving us exposed to marketers and government agencies.
In the age of data breaches, even a seemingly trivial bio filled out on Airbnb could make you a target for anyone with a grudge and a smartphone.
“As more users wake up to the power of data sovereignty, our relationship with AI deepens”
Even veteran coders working on open-source projects like Tor and Signal are wrestling with the implications of their work. These platforms, designed with privacy in mind, still find themselves vulnerable to the vast, hidden forces of data collection embedded in dependent digital fabric.
Gen-AI, whether intentionally or through its evolving nature, is challenging the very foundations of these systems.
For consumers, the stakes couldn’t be higher. As we become more reliant on AI-powered tools, from smart home devices to digital assistants, we’re faced with new forms of exploitation.
Remote work is also being infiltrated. Companies like Outlier and DataAnnotation perpetuate a digital slave economy where online workers are reduced to mere button-pushers in a never-ending stream of data labelling and curation tasks. This isn’t the utopia of AI productivity we were promised - it’s a new brand of servitude.
Gen-AI: Savior, Sellout, or Something Else?
At the heart of this data revolution is a critical question: whose side is AI really on? Can AI serve as a force for good, disrupting the Political maneuvering of corporate greed and returning control to the hands of users? Or is Gen-AI just another pawn in a larger game, quietly feeding the same systems it has the potential to disrupt?
The reality is somewhere in between. AI is neither inherently good nor evil - it’s a reflection of the forces that shape it.
in its evolving form gen-ai presents both a challenge and an opportunity for those who wield it. Companies that embrace ethical data practices and transparency will find themselves on the right side of history but those that don’t will soon face the consequences of an AI revolution that has begun to shift the balance.
A power play is trending
As the lines between corporate control and individual privacy blur, one thing is clear: we are at a crossroads. The story of Gen-AI is still unfolding, and its true role in the future of data and technology remains uncertain. But one thing is for sure: the battle for control over data - and by extension, over our digital lives - has only just begun.
The companies that succeed in this new era will be those that not only respect user privacy but actively work to empower their customers in the data-driven worlds of today and tomorrow.
The future of AI, data, and corporate power comes down to one simple truth: trust is the new currency. And an important question hangs heavy over the Internet industry: can we put faith in the current software that pervades our lives?
While Gen-AI enables independence, using it also means subordinating to the c-suite shadow council. True power, then, is not found in simply possessing advanced technology, but in the purpose with which we apply it.