Do you consider your own output here to be of more value then? After all, your average response length is about one sentence and I detect zero attempt to partake in any kind of conversation exploring ideas or even requiring the minimal amount of thinking to take place. Even here you're making a hasty generalization about hundreds of millions of people while implying they all run absolutely everything through AI while yourself seemingly mixing the terms conscience and consciousness. Not really the greatest example of someone successfully expressing their natural thought process without the help of AI.

A question for them: Why live anymore?
Okay, a bit more friendly version: where did you gave up living your own life?

What about opensource self hosted AI?

There are still major ethical issues with how they get training data, but the problem with hijacking the economy and society seems resolved. I feel like I can more easily forgive the copyright theft for someone just fucking around in their homelab, replacing Google assistant.

Maybe I'm just bean-souping.

Maybe it's not about whether they are or are not NPCs, but the time they spend being as one. I also think spending time scrolling, having all your content delivered to you via an algorithm, also is kind of like spending time being an NPC.

need something?

Calling people NPCs because they use AI is pretty ironic. Using a tool doesn't make someone less human, any more than using a calculator makes someone incapable of thinking. The real question is whether people are using AI to expand their thinking or outsourcing it entirely. Blindly repeating AI-generated content is one thing; using AI as a tool for creativity, learning, or productivity is another. Judge the thought, not the tool.

Assisted AI is fine, but putting it in the drivers seat and abandoning critical thinking skills is pretty concerning, yet sadly not surprising with the masses