--- title: Potentially Useful | daily.dev description: A machine learning practitioner with 20 years of experience reflects on the AI boom of the mid-2020s with deep skepticism. The author argues that chatbots are... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/potentially-useful-q5ewuknui twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Potentially Useful | daily.dev og:description: A machine learning practitioner with 20 years of experience reflects on the AI boom of the mid-2020s with deep skepticism. The author argues that chatbots are... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/potentially-useful-q5ewuknui og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/q5eWuKNuI.png og:image:alt: Potentially Useful og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Potentially Useful **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A machine learning practitioner with 20 years of experience reflects on the AI boom of the mid-2020s with deep skepticism. The author argues that chatbots are a 'neat trick' that doesn't justify their enormous environmental and social costs, criticizes the tech industry's all-in bet on AI, and draws a parallel between today's uncritical AI adoption and the public's failure to oppose the 2003 Iraq War. The piece is a personal lament directed at future readers, acknowledging the author's inability to persuade peers to abandon AI tools despite the harms they see unfolding. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [AI Is Really Weird](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-is-really-weird-lmlltzrmc) · Where's Your Ed At · 66 upvotes · 3 comments - [Prepare for That Stupid World](https://daily.dev/posts/prepare-for-that-stupid-world-ixdxhofyw) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Beyond the Hype: What Happened When AI Met Government](https://daily.dev/posts/beyond-the-hype-what-happened-when-ai-met-government-xefsh4t3w) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The great AI hype correction of 2025](https://daily.dev/posts/the-great-ai-hype-correction-of-2025-3tmijcbky) · MIT Technology Review · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#machine-learning](https://daily.dev/tags/machine-learning), [#bots](https://daily.dev/tags/bots), [#ethics](https://daily.dev/tags/ethics) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/potentially-useful-q5ewuknui) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Potentially Useful","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/potentially-useful-q5ewuknui","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/potentially-useful-q5ewuknui"},"datePublished":"2026-07-14T15:42:59.034Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:01:56.730Z","description":"A machine learning practitioner with 20 years of experience reflects on the AI boom of the mid-2020s with deep skepticism. 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