Wendy Liu Rejects AI Tools, Warning Trillions in Spending Could Privatize Thought
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 24
Wendy Liu Rejects AI Tools, Warning Trillions in Spending Could Privatize Thought
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 24
Wendy Liu says she actively avoids AI tools in coding and writing, arguing the trade-off in efficiency is worth preserving independent thought and what she calls “cognitive sovereignty.”
Years of learning to code and write manually shaped her view that struggle, debugging and drafting are part of thinking itself, making AI-assisted “cognitive offloading” something she wants to resist.
Liu says the AI boom is deskilling software work through “vibe-coding,” flooding writing with AI-generated slop and normalizing dependence on opaque systems run by powerful companies.
Research suggesting even a few minutes of chatbot use may hurt cognition reinforces her concern, while she argues younger users risk seeing technology as a black box they cannot understand or change.
Trillions of dollars are projected for datacentres as companies cut jobs and push AI adoption, a broader shift Liu frames as political as well as personal.
With AI's 'illusion of expertise' on the rise, are we outsourcing our brains into obsolescence?
As tech giants effectively privatize thought, what happens to our cognitive freedom and individual liberty?
The $5 Trillion AI Boom: Capital, Control, and the Battle for Cognitive Sovereignty
Overview
This report explores how the rapid rise of artificial intelligence is powered by massive investment and capitalist incentives, creating a powerful economic engine that shapes both technology and society. Driven by fierce competition among tech giants and a speculative rush, unprecedented amounts of capital are flowing into AI infrastructure. This investment is fueled by a strong belief in AI’s transformative potential, but it also raises questions about sustainability and the broader impact on society and ethics. The resulting landscape is marked by both opportunity and risk, as economic forces drive AI’s development and influence its role in our lives.