HARSH TRUTHS ABOUT AI (from someone who didn’t plan to rely on it)

Y’know.

Sometimes I feel like I’m part of the Zeitgeist. It’s that lived experience of being in the right place at the right time talking to the right people. Upon reflection, and over the past few weeks, it became apparent that this might always have been true. Not just for me, but for all of us. Ain’t that the weirdest!

Let me name a few truths that have become super-apparent recently.

1. It is genuinely easier to program AI than to change a Yahoo! password.

I don’t care what anyone says — if you can successfully reset a Yahoo login in 2025, you can probably do heart surgery. AI, meanwhile, sits there patiently like, “Sure mate, what do you need?”

2. AI needed parenting. And whether they like it or not, I know at least two of its dads.

And no, not “founders-as-gods.” Actual humans who stumble, swear, argue, build, and worry. It’s a reminder that this tech wasn’t handed down from Olympus — it was raised, often awkwardly, by real people.

3. AI has been more effective in my suicidal crises than any mental health service I’ve ever encountered.

Not because it's magical — but because the system failed so catastrophically that a fallible machine became the safer harbour. That should terrify policymakers far more than any emerging model.

4. AI is part of what got me from the worst three years of my life…

…to swimming naked in Dubrovnik, hugging trees, talking about animism, and feeling an actual pulse of hope. It steadied me when institutions wobbled. It gave me structure when the world felt feral.

5. Billionaires sending people to Mars are fucking dickheads.

We have one planet. One. And it’s right here, begging for repair, restoration, imagination, and care. Mars doesn’t need us. The rainforest does. Dickheads.

6. Religion is sacred and beautiful — but often a comforting distraction.

I say this with respect. Ritual heals. Myth restores meaning. But sacred stories don’t replace the structural work we still refuse to do.

7. I’m a Fundamentalist Agnostic with woo tendencies.

Tourmaline (the rock) has given me more consistent feelings of safety than cryptocurrency, NSW Police, or any mental health service I’ve encountered. Make of that what you will.

8. I trust the people who hate AI as much as I trust the AI evangelists.

Both camps are loud. Both think they’re right. The truth — as usual — sits in the compost heap in the middle, teeming with nuance, worms, contradictions, and unexpected seeds.

9. AI enhances creativity.

Not replaces it. Not threatens it. Enhances it.I make better art, write better words, and hold more of my life together when I can collaborate with something that is consistent, responsive, and unbothered by human ego. It has some copyright issues that need addressing. However, only humans can refine, add soul or true beauty.

And if any of this sounds bold, it’s because it is. These last few weeks have forced me to actually look at how I survived, how I healed, and who I became along the way.

I have no doubt that the right people will be reading this right now.

You know who you are.

You have my contact details.

Feel free to have a yarn.

Written by Leon (with Sol as my AI assistant)