It seems that thinking is becoming a luxury. Suddenly, it seems that technology is undermining our ability to concentrate, read, and reason. We rely too much on technology, and in a world where being agnostic is the common rule, we have more faith in artificial intelligence than in our ability to reason. No, this is not a pessimistic reflection but rather a matter of beginning to analyse that this can lead to more inequality, an increasingly stratified culture, and, over time, a danger to democracies. Let's say things as they are: artificial intelligence is not a toy.

It seems repetitive, and it is. We know of multiple investigations that have been carried out by serious institutions that indicate the terrible results of our children being glued to video games, screens, that our adolescents trust ChatGPT or Gemini AI more, and that adults are trained in artificial intelligence programs. Children who are exposed to more than two hours a day of recreational screen time have worse working memory, processing speed, attention levels, language skills, and executive function than children who are not, similar to teens and adults. In addition, literacy and poverty are correlated. I was surprised by a piece of information provided by Mary Harrington of the New York Times, in which she argues that "Poor children now spend more time a day in front of screens than rich children."

In a recent interview with Bill Gates, artificial intelligence was discussed. Asked what needs to be done to monitor this progress, Gates replied that progress is happening every day. Technology has enough resources to automatically become more sophisticated, refine results, and become more accurate and autonomous. Should we be afraid of these advances? I don't know, what is true is that it is not a toy, and the best thing is to learn to live with it.

We are living in a dilemma very similar to the one faced by Humanity in times of the Industrial Revolution. Who should do the work: the person or the machine? This week, around seventy workers at the King company that operates the Candy Crush game and is owned by Microsoft protested the massive layoffs that took place at the company. It is not surprising that those who designed, developed, and programmed with artificial intelligence are now out of work. This was the case when there were massive layoffs at a time when the machine was more precise, more efficient, and less demanding than human labor.

The dismissed workers complain that the company has millions in profits, and on this basis, the company should respect their jobs. No, that's not how business works. If they promoted the consistent development of artificial intelligence tools, they must have imagined what the future would be that was approaching them. But we have developed a short-term vision, and we live with progress as if we were doing it with a toy. It's not a toy. There are consequences, and we have to prepare for them. That makes an intelligent human being.

It is a fact that is already becoming a reality: those who trained artificial intelligence tools have now managed to automate tasks that were previously entrusted to human beings. This was the case in the times of the Industrial Revolution, and the workers who were replaced by machines did not get their jobs back: they were replaced, and they had to train in something different to earn a living.

Microsoft announced that the cuts will continue and that artificial intelligence will replace almost ten thousand workers of the company. These layoffs will take place in all areas and will be for all geographic branches of the company. Who will stay? Intelligent people, that is, those with a higher level of management, who understand how to better streamline processes, who are able to adapt their responsibilities in the face of new challenges. In short, people who understand how to be superior to artificial intelligence. That is, people who relate to these tools seriously and not as if they were toys.

We have to start paying attention. It seems to me that we have lost a lot. The ability to think long-term has been misplaced, and we have tended to be more tribal, less rational, largely uninterested in facts or even historical records, more driven by vibrations than convincing arguments, and more open to fantastical ideas and bizarre conspiracy theories.

The challenge is not easy; however, it is not insurmountable. But the faster we understand how these technologies work, the better. It is about taking advantage of what they know how to do and detecting what they cannot yet do in order to do it ourselves. We will never be able to compete with a receptacle of knowledge that responds at the speed of light. It is necessary to learn how to use it intelligently.

It is time to reflect on what artificial intelligence is and what differences it has with human intelligence. Microsoft is laying off four percent of its total global workforce. What made this group of people vulnerable? Why were they chosen to be replaced? Those are the key questions we need to answer. To complain to the company about the dismissals, to label them as unjustified, to protest because they are making a lot of profit, is not to understand the business world, and, ultimately, it is a waste of time. Artificial intelligence is not going to stop. I'm afraid we don't even have that possibility anymore.

But we can learn to use it to our advantage. Go one step further. Stop competing with the machine, refrain from using it as a mode of entertainment or an easy way to do tasks or jobs. Rather, you have to stop using it as a toy and take it seriously. Know what is relevant about human intelligence and grow. That's what Bill Gates recommends, and the man knows what he's talking about.