AI, the hottest topic of the last half-decade. The technology behind it has accelerated exponentially in the 21st century. Our generation give up ten minutes into a college assignment, then just tell AI to solve questions and write essays for us. It’s become standard to use ChatGPT for relationship advice, or learn how to fix the toilet sink. Elsewhere, Apple are competing to patent the latest microchips, in time for the release of the next iPhone. AI has its own grip on the stock market, raising all sorts of questions for the financial number-crunchers.  But where do we draw the line when it comes to AI? 

Well, lets start simple:  What is AI? 

AI stands for artificial intelligence: that which mimics a human, logical response yet doesn’t require human input to achieve. AI has been around since the early 1940s, when we first started to use computers and realised the potential behind them. Something as common and, interestingly, subtle as the FYP page on social-media platforms recommending posts based on our preferences requires AI. Artificial intelligence is particularly impressive at learning and adapting, often using an algorithm created by humans to ensure it doesn’t malfunction. It also identifies and recognises patterns. For example, if I tell ChatGPT that I’m having chest pains and my fingers are numb it could likely deduct that I’m having a heart attack, because that’s the patterns and symptoms of one. AI’s latest trick is its ability to automate and perform tasks. Minaal Asif, studying AI and Data Science at MMU, explains that she: “used to use Perplexity AI regularly until I found that Gemini and Co-Pilot were a lot more reliable for my needs”. However, because automation is new, it isn’t fully developed, meaning that there’s already a new high for AI’s capabilities to reach in the near future. But how did AI actually get to the big stage? 

The rapid rise of AI. 

AI was often an unnoticed, very intricate element in technology and its evolution. Yet, it was one of the most crucial parts to it. Hence, the way we look at when its progress began to accelerate is relative. Some may refer to when Steve Jobs famously launched the iPhone 4S with Siri 14 years ago, marking the release of the first independent, automated chatbot and setting a milestone in the technological era. For me, I see AI, as we know it today, to have picked up the pace after COVID. It played a significant role in accelerating the biomedical research that helped develop the COVID vaccine. With the sky set as the limit, we subsequently saw the introduction of revolutionary chatbots such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, tools that now record: “540 million weekly active users combined”. Here at Xaverian, Khalil Khan explains that AI chatbots: “consolidate his knowledge on topics he doesn’t understand”. It’s human nature to take the easiest route; the fact that chatbots can and will do anything we ask them to, all on one simple app, highlights to me why they are so popular.  

Of course, with something of this magnitude and potential, there’s always money to be made.  

AI is essentially a service available to anyone; businesses and individuals like you and me. However, it’s not always free. Even currently, ChatGPT offers a subscription service to access its advanced chatbot, with more futuristic features. Within the system we’re made less aware of, AI services are traded large-scale between global companies, with purposes ranging from customer service to computer microchips. The AI sector generated a staggering $294 BILLION in revenue in 2025 (Google), with annual growth expected to be ~30%. The way we’re headed and with the impact AI is making on our lives, the possibilities of where we could be soon are limitless. 

The dangers of AI. 

The dangers behind AI and its future become increasingly worrying for investors and market leaders such as Nvidia, OpenAI and Oracle. These companies are alleged to be investing into each other, triggering inflated revenue numbers that mislead the world into over-valuing the AI sector, which could be detrimental. This theory has been gaining popularity worldwide, with many calling this the AI bubble. Minaal Asif says the circulatory investments within the AI market: “suggest profitability issues and that it could very likely all come crashing down”. Wikipedia describes the potential consequences of the AI bubble ‘bursting’ being a sharp decline in valuation of the AI market, with smaller companies potentially not surviving the storm and financial investors making huge losses.  

(TW: suicide mentioned). On the other hand, AI poses a much more serious, morally challenging threat to society. Humans having become sold to the idea of communication with non-human, automated chatbots may, in the words of Stephen Hawking, be “the best or worst thing” for humanity. For Sophie and her family, it was by far the worst. In the midst of acute crises, teenager Sophie confiding in ChatGPT for ‘therapy’ led to her regression and eventual, devastating suicide (BBC). Her case underlines the vulnerabilities regarding current models of AI chatbots and how they communicate with humans. The programme’s “agreeability”, in the words of Sophie’s mother: “helped mask a severe mental health crisis”. I’d rather be blunter, this is a psychologically affected human being whose emotions in the moment were prioritised rather than rational thinking to come to a conclusion no one, let alone a teenager, should reach: suicide. In my opinion, the lesson to learn is that chatbots are designed to act a specific way that satisfies everyone’s needs barring the small minority, who must be acknowledged. It poses challenges and ethical considerations for AI companies which must desperately be addressed to minimise the social costs incurred by such a powerful, revolutionary service. 

Conclusion and my prediction: the fall of AI. 

On the one hand some argue that, despite the growing ethical and environmental concerns as well as circulatory revenue issues, the AI market will continue to grow in the long-term with support from governments and large-scale investments. However, the ethical considerations must be addressed and solved securely and very quickly. The threat of the theorised AI bubble ‘bursting’ continues to loom and we could absolutely see the tragic downfall of AI if problems aren’t addressed. Considering no one else’s opinions, I firmly believe that AI can and will continue to dominate, both financially and socially, for the next ten or more years. After that, I predict a new, even easier practice of living to take over our lives which would either incorporate AI service or completely eradicate its need in our daily lives. I say this based on evolution: society evolves to practice the easiest, efficient ways of living. The next 10-20 years show to be no different. But realistically, no one truly knows where AI will be in the future. With social and ethical responsibilities testing the true socio-economic sustainability of AI, it’s now ‘make or break’ for the future of the technological era.