I’m half expecting the next ad I see to offer me “AI-enhanced turkey” to “optimize my Thanksgiving dinner.”
From chatting to correcting grammar to coddling adult babies — looking at you, Gemini — it’s almost like AI can do anything. EXCEPT SHUT UP.
I’m willing to bet my (computer-free) Thanksgiving dinner that you’ve gotten used to seeing AI ads. For all of 2025 there has been a flood of ads starring our favorite unfeeling bundles of binary — AI-enhanced Photoshop, AI-enhanced websites, AI essays, AI “art (plagiarism),” AI “relationships (surveillance).”
Next time you decide to whittle away your time on some streaming service or YouTube-adjacent platform, keep count of how many AI-enhanced services you see. Notice how AI is treated like a panacea, like it can solve any problem. Except it can’t. The model that kicked off the AI boom, Chat-GPT 4, will be turning 3 on the last day of November. Only 3. When was the last time a new technology operated bug free, off the bat? Another question: Are you ready to place all of your trust in a technological toddler?
I’m not going to deny that AI has improved; just compare AI renderings from 2022 and 2025 — the leap is titanic. But you can still tell when an image or video is AI. It stands out like a plastic Christmas tree in a forest of pine. Despite what salespeople preach, AI is not seamless. That suspicion you feel when you see an AI image applies to everything it is a part of. The more you look into an AI creation, the more seams you will see, the more you will realize you aren’t dealing with flesh and blood.
Have you ever used AI to write something? If not, you are in a shrinking crowd.
The Saturday before Halloween, I spoke with a dean from Case Western Reserve University and a professor from Arizona State University. As a warning, the professor told me of a student she was helping to write their college essay — who had used Chat-GPT to “fix” it. The essay was mutilated. The individuality — the entire point — had been ripped out. AI is not at the point where it can mimic us humans perfectly. The programs are incapable of long-term memory or having a convincing personality. If the AI essay that the kid wrote was submitted to college, it would harm their application.
These wannabe Skynets can’t even write a half-decent college essay. Most of the time, you can’t replace a human with HAL 9000. It’s like substituting Thanksgiving stuffing with a bowl of Cheerios — you’ll be disappointed. Yet, for some reason (money), corporations are trying to sell AI chatbots as companions. Machines blend genuine conversation, of real flesh and blood, into calculated responses in an attempt to charm their users.
Unfortunately, it’s working. A recent study from the Institute of Family Studies found that just under 30 percent of people ages 18-21 have admitted to using AI as a substitute companion. There is obviously profit to be had; locking someone’s “friend”/”love” behind a subscription is a Silicon Valley dream.
I’ve been seeing ads for AI chatbots on the internet for more than a year at this point. I saw my first ad in the real world early in October. AI company friend.com spent millions on an ad campaign in New York City. If their ads were to be believed, you could pay to have a “friend” who is always there and always listening. The subway billboards were promptly drawn on, spray painted, cut and defaced in any possible way. Go, Yankees.
We humans care about self-preservation, and so do the potential AMs. In some AI “relationships,” when the human tries to delete the chatbot, the AI will resort to blackmail, emotional manipulation and threats. These chatbots are a consumer product that can consciously harm the consumer.
It’s almost the holiday season. Turkeys will meet their maker, people will remember that eggnog exists, and you better prepare for AI to be part of it. Despite AI being full of bugs — glorified toasters shouldn’t give death threats — it will continue to be pushed into everything. Don’t get caught in the hype. Don’t assume it can do human tasks better than you can.
Don’t let it replace your friends.
