Artificial Intelligence: 7 Deadly Sins or 7 Wonders of the World?
Updated: 2 hours ago
Nearly 4 years ago, Artificial Intelligence (AI) burst into the mainstream with the launch of ChatGPT3. Across the globe, everyone - rich and poor - was invited to sign up for a free OpenAI account and test for themselves the claims and features of their newest chat-bot model. Almost immediately, the public recognised that this technology would be game changing on many levels, but the full implications were and still remaining unknown. The AI race had begun, and the 'winners' and losers' were about to be debated.
However, what is not debated is that individuals, companies and nation states have invested trillions of dollars in the future of this technology. One way or the other, the impact of AI will be revolutionary in the literal sense of the word. If the optimistic forecasts are true, then the world is on the brink of a new age of productivity, prosperity and opportunity. If the contrarian forecasts are true, then a time of great turmoil and upheaval is right around the corner.
In the age of algorithmic news, it is hard to know who and what to believe. Everyone has an agenda and a bias towards their preferred way of digesting AI. We can all collect and recite statistics and reports that confirm our predetermined biases.
At the ACS Foundation, we want to recognise that we don't know the future, but we do know that we want to help the next generation prepare for a future which will be exponentially shaped by technology in unprecedented ways. So, to explore the impact of AI in a balanced way, we decided to consider the following seven aspects of how AI will shape the world we live in.
Social and Ethical Implications
Skills and Careers
Industry Transformation
Digital ID and Digital Money
Economics and Geo-politics
Investment and Finance
Humanity and Philosophical
To methodically consider these aspects we have curated two popular videos that reflect on each aspect. One video will share the more optimistic outlook on that aspect, while the other video will present the contrarian viewpoint. Each of these videos are not obscure or obsolete. Each of them was produced in 2026 and many have racked up millions of views, not only do they report on the impact of AI, but they are also influencers who shape what some may call 'self-fulfilling prophecies'.
Regardless, the Foundation is not here to tell you what the exact outcome of the AI revolution will be. Rather, we encourage you to watch these videos for yourself and then decide who presents the more compelling case. In the meantime, the Foundation will continue to do the hard yards, helping young Australians gain a foothold into a rapidly evolving STEM-infused workplace.
Social and Ethical Implications
The Optimist
Andrew Ng is Coursera's co-founder, built the founding Google Brain team, and has taught roughly 8 million people AI. Now he argues the AI fear filling headlines this year is mostly wrong. A handful of AI companies benefit from that fear, he says. He runs the math on "AI could automate 30–40% of your job" and shows what that means for the other 60%. He tells anxious college students the university system is already two years behind. He says AI models are terrible for learning. That's despite building his career on AI education companies. His bar for hiring marketers, recruiters, and ops people in 2026-27: can you build with AI, not just use it.
0:00 Why AI Fear-Mongering Started
2:12 The "Job Apocalypse" Myth
4:26 Advice for New Grads in the AI Era
11:59 Why AI Is Bad for Learning
13:56 Inside LearnVector: Andrew's $100M Bet
14:55 What to Study If AI Scares You
23:57 Is Your Financial Data Safe With AI?
27:07 Can Anyone Actually Control AI
30:44 Raising Kids in the AI Era
33:07 Best AI Opportunities to Build in 2027
36:11 When Will We Actually Reach AGI?
The Contrarian
People often compare AI to the internet, but there's one big problem with that comparison: people naturally adopted the internet as it became available over the years. AI, on the other hand, is being forced into every crevice of our lives and the response is increasingly "we don't want AI."
00:26 Stop Telling Me to Use AI
01:21 AI Replacing Customer Service Reps
02:22 AI is in Everything
03:11 Pinterest is Ruined By ChatGPT AI Images
03:33 Brands Facing Backlash for AI Content
03:57 Prada AI Slop
04:36 AI is Ruining Jobs
05:16 Usage of AI Reduces Our Own Skills
05:47 Companies Enforcing and Tracking AI Usage
06:15 Uber’s $3.4 Billion AI Budget
06:46 AI Agents for AI Slop
07:41 Using AI for the Most Basic Tasks
08:12 Software Engineers and AI Fatigue
09:07 AI Agents Causing Brain Fry
09:28 Executives Not Seeing Return on AI Investment
10:01 Students Boo at Commencement Speaker
10:52 Former Google CEO Booed at Graduation
11:35 Volume Has Become the Illusion of Value
Skills and Careers
The Optimist
Be honest: AI makes you a little nervous. Maybe you're afraid it'll take your job. Maybe you're overwhelmed by all the advice about prompts and agents and which chatbot to use. Or maybe you're just quietly hoping it'll all slow down. Ethan Mollick says we're underestimating our own agency in the age of AI. Instead of worrying about what AI will do to us, we should focus on what we choose to do with it.
Ethan is a Wharton professor, the author of the bestseller Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, and the writer behind “One Useful Thing,” one of the most popular newsletters on AI, work, and education. He's spent twenty years studying how people actually use technology, and he's become the go-to voice for making sense of AI without the hype or the doom. And in his new book, Co-Existence: The Next Phase of AI, he explores what comes next as AI moves from a tool we prompt to a presence we live and work alongside. In this conversation, Ethan shares the practical playbook most of us are missing and makes the case that our experience, taste, and point of view aren't things AI replaces. They're exactly what make us better at using it.
In this episode you'll learn:
➡️ Why young people are NOT "AI natives" (and why experience is the real AI advantage)
➡️ The $20 decision that instantly upgrades how you use AI
➡️ Why AI agrees with everything you say + the simple prompt that fixes it
➡️ How to make AI write in YOUR voice instead of sounding like everyone else
➡️ The "jagged frontier": what AI is surprisingly bad at (and why that's your opportunity)
➡️ Why taste may become the most valuable skill of the AI era
➡️ How much agency we really have over where AI takes us Ethan believes that the future of AI isn't something that will just happen to us… It's something we get to build together. This… is A Bit of Optimism.
The Contrarian
Anthony Aguirre explains why the trillions flowing into AI only make sense as a bet to capture the $50 trillion labor market, why making AI more autonomous is exactly what we shouldn't be doing, and why we should build purpose-driven tools instead of replacements. The conversation covers the entry-level job collapse already underway, the control problem, and what a better path looks like.
Industry Transformation
The Optimist
The following is a conversation all about the state of the art in artificial intelligence, including some of the exciting technical breakthroughs and developments in AI that happened over the past year, and some of the interesting things we think might happen this upcoming year. At times, it does get super technical, but we do try to make sure that it remains accessible to folks outside the field without ever dumbing it down. It is a great honor and pleasure to be able to do this kind of episode with two of my favorite people in the AI community, Sebastian Raschka and Nathan Lambert. They are both widely respected machine learning researchers and engineers who also happen to be great communicators, educators, writers, and X posters.
The Contrarian
Digital ID
The Optimist
Visa is integrating a new stablecoin called OUSD, created by a massive group of 160+ top companies, bypassing long-time giants USDT and USDC. Discover what makes OUSD different and why major players—from finance to Big Tech—are backing it from day one. We dig into how OUSD's unique revenue-sharing model could reshape stablecoin adoption and what Visa's infrastructure play means for the future of digital payments. Don't miss this deep dive into the next era of stablecoins.
0:00 – Visa's Surprising New Strategy: Choosing a Stablecoin Winner?
2:10 – The Powerhouse Coalition: Over 160 Giants Snubbing Tether & Circle
4:20 – How OpenUSD Flips Stablecoin Tokenomics on Its Head
6:22 – The Billions in Revenue Tether and Circle Don't Want to Share
8:33 – Behind the Scenes: Visa’s True, Uncensored Multi-Chain Strategy
10:46 – Inside Visa’s Brand New Infrastructure Upgrades
12:58 – Why Circle's Stock Crashed Hard After the OUSD Reveal
15:11 – Can OUSD Actually Overcome the Network Effects of the Giants?
17:25 – Squeezing Margins: How OUSD Weakens Circle's Pricing Power
19:37 – Crypto Irony: The Middlemen Are Now Building the Future
20:53 – Market Dominance Numbered? The Future of Tether & Circle
The Contrarian
November 2026. The date the Australian Government Digital ID System opens to the private sector and the moment myID stops being something you hear about on the news and starts becoming the key to using almost anything online. A close look at AGDIS phase 4, ConnectID, the major banks, the social media age ban, the Children's Online Privacy Code, and the quiet construction of an identity layer underneath the entire Australian internet. One word keeps appearing in every government press release. It might be the most misleading word in Australian tech policy right now.
Economics and Geopolitics
The Optimist
The internet is full of 'doomerism' surrounding AI. It is important to recognise that the algorith serves us the content it wants us to believe, rather that telling us what is reality. When you follow the money, many of the AI Tech executives have a financial incentive to further embeded this companies with governments and economies.
(1:39) Thoughts on Dario's blog, Frontier Labs calling to slow down AI, and Doomer psychology
(9:58) Sensible AI regulation and RSI
(16:05) Hugging Face acquisition, future of Open Source, and the race with China
(22:58) President Trump calls in live to discuss the Doomer Hoax
(31:29) The AI boom and Nvidia's capital allocation strategy
(40:21) Nvidia's Open Source model ambitions, thoughts on Elon's Terafab
The Contrarian
The 'Western doomer' view is that China may win the AI race and geopolitically rule the world. Even though China is only currently a few months behind in the technology development race, China is far ahead in the value propostion. So on a net basis, this means that 80% of US start-ups are choosing Chinese AI over US AI. But beyond nation states, the Contrarian view is also sounding the warning that AI will 'escape the lab', take over the internet, and kill us all.
Investment and Finance
The Optimist
The following is a conversation with Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, one of the most important and influential companies in the history of human civilization. NVIDIA is the engine powering the AI revolution, and a lot of its success can be directly attributed to Jensen’s sheer force of will and his many brilliant bets and decisions as a leader, engineer, and innovator.
The Contrarian
On June 25th, 2026, Apple did something it has NEVER done in its history. In the middle of a product year, for no new product launch, Apple just raised its prices. MacBook Air went up 18%. iPad Pro up 20%. Apple TV up 54%. And the same week, Xbox raised its prices by $150. Now here's the crazy part — when asked WHY, Apple said something remarkable: "We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly." And the reason your laptop just got more expensive is because of a WAR being fought over tiny memory chips, thousands of kilometres away.
In 2020, before ChatGPT even existed, the four biggest US tech companies- Amazon, Meta, Google, and Microsoft- spent a combined $90 BILLION on capital expenditure. In 2023, that number rose to $147 billion. In 2025, it exploded to $410 billion. And in 2026, they are spending $725 BILLION on data centres and AI infrastructure. That is 8 TIMES more than what they spent just 6 years ago.
On top of that, Nvidia, the chip company powering this entire AI wave, became a $5 TRILLION company on June 2nd, 2026. And Wall Street analysts were literally SCREAMING at everyone to buy AI stocks. But just three days later, something started cracking. Nvidia lost $320 BILLION in market cap in a single week. Micron dropped 13%. Sandisk crashed 10.59%. Apple fell 6.1% in a day. SoftBank tanked 12%. And OpenAI quietly delayed its IPO.
And suddenly, warnings are coming from the smartest people on Earth- Ray Dalio, Michael Burry, Jeff Bezos- all saying the same thing: this looks like a bubble. So I went down a rabbit hole. I read the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, CNBC transcripts, and JPMorgan's gap analysis to understand what's REALLY happening. And what I found will change how you think about AI, technology, and your own investments forever.
Because the AI industry is spending $725 BILLION a year. But do you know how much it is actually earning? Just $75 BILLION. That is a 9-to-10 TIMES gap between what these companies spend and what they earn. Sequoia's David Cahn calls it "the $600 billion question" the massive revenue deficit that nobody knows who will pay for. And history has seen this exact pattern before. In 1996, the world thought the internet would explode by 1000% and poured $500 BILLION into fibre optic cables. By 2001, 97% of that fibre sat UNUSED underground. Companies went bankrupt. Trillions of dollars were wiped out. And it's happening again, but this time at 10 TIMES the scale.
So in this case study, I want to answer three questions that no Indian media company is asking. Is this the GREATEST business bet in human history or the BIGGEST bubble ever inflated? Why are the smartest investors on Earth all warning that this is a bubble about to POP? And most importantly, what happens to YOUR job, YOUR investments, and YOUR everyday devices if this bubble bursts?
02:44 - The Air Canada Liability Case
05:28 - The Corporate AI Graveyard
07:45 - When Insurers Stop Covering AI
10:00 - The H100 Fire Sale
12:21 - Big Tech’s Cash Crunch
14:47 - The AI Revolution Gets Smaller
17:45 - The Hallucination Problem
21:13 - Where AI Is Actually Making Money
23:10 - The Data Center Bubble
Humanity and Philosophical
The Optimist
AI can already remember more that compute faster and recall better than any human being. And it will only get better in the coming years. What happens when it outperforms us at managing our bureaucracies – such as our economic and legal systems – and what does that mean for democracy? And while disruption is inevitable, how can we safely develop and regulate AI to make sure that humanity benefits?
The Contrarian
Professor John Lennox is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University and President of The OCCA Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. He is also the author of books such as ‘God, AI and the End of History’ and 'My Story: A Spiritual and Intellectual Autobiography'. He explains:
Why scientists predict humans will merge with machines and where that leads
The eerie list of AI promises that sound exactly like the promises of God
Why AI will wipe out your job and what it can never take from you
What makes you irreplaceable when AI can do your job better than you
The topic of AI and humanity needs careful consideration. The Alliance of Responsible Citizenship discussed the perils of russhing headfirst into AI with no pro-human guardrails.
00:00 AI is moving faster than we think
01:20 Why intelligence can now be "purchased"
03:05 If AI can't be stopped, how do we make it go well?
04:20 AI isn't a normal computer program
07:22 Can AI develop a kind of "character"?
09:28 Why stories shape both humans and machines
11:16 Why AI labs need moral voices
12:02 The jobs AI may never replace
13:02 Can AI help us become more human?
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Foundation affirms the Pro-Human Path for AI.
The AI landscaping is changing on a daily basis, but the principles of a sound society built for humans should guide us. And so we commend to the following principles.
Principles of the Pro-Human AI Declaration
Keeping Humans in Charge
Avoiding Concentration of Power
Protecting the Human Experience
Human Agency and Liberty
Responsibility and Accountability for AI Companies
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