Commentary: Gen Z is pushing back against AI – a reminder that the future isn’t written

GEN Z’S LOSS OF SELF WORTH

The issue is not just with a dire job market. Many young people are left feeling as though they no longer have any meaningful stake in a system that demands their compliance while it systematically engineers their obsolescence.

As social psychologist Shoshana Zuboff puts it, we are living in a “harsh social habitat produced by a decades-old regime of neoliberal market economics in which our sense of self-worth and need for self-determination are routinely thwarted”.

Indeed, younger generations face a unique existential crisis as algorithms increasingly shape taste, preferences, decisions and more. Teens are “living inside a contradiction”, encouraged to embrace AI while they report it’s hurting their learning.

In the 20th century, baby boomers had greater agency over how much technology was integrated into their lives, and there was more opportunity to opt out. Studies show older generations were able to evaluate their adoption of technology based on factors like “compatibility with lifestyle” and affordability. Email and mobile phones weren’t viewed as essential to everyday life, nor was upgrading to a clock radio or a TV with a remote control considered as “inevitable” as having an AI chatbot on your smartphone is today.

Today, AI and algorithms feel unavoidable to younger generations, because they’re built into the very fabric of society. Tech CEOs argue the dominance of AI is inevitable, but the people in power aren’t engaging in dialogue with younger generations.

In an age when it feels as though we’ve resigned ourselves to a future determined by AI and algorithms, younger generations now want to reclaim agency over their futures, rather than just blindly embrace AI.

The vocal Gen Z backlash against AI should be a reminder to everyone that alternatives to an AI-saturated future are still possible.

Siobhan Lyons is a Scholar in Media and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University. This article first appeared in The Conversation.