There is no doubt now. The past few years have shown that the AI revolution is here and is about to turn our world upside down. And if you dispute this, please crawl out from under that rock and look around.

Where will this AI revolution take us? Will we be like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole but unsure whether we’ll land in a utopian wonderland or a dystopian nightmare?

Imagine a world where creativity is at your fingertips, or at least your keyboard. AI can unleash your imagination and put the power of creation in the hands of the masses. All of a sudden, we are all George Orwell, Maria Callas, or van Gogh. Why did I bring up George Orwell? Just wait.

All this AI is not just about Art and Music. The AI revolution may liberate us from the monotony of a 9–5 drudgery. May? It already has. Customer service? Check. Data entry? Done. Even writing reports has become a breeze.

Mihir Shukla, the CEO of Automation Anywhere, says AI is all about freeing us up for more exciting stuff. You know, the kind of stuff that requires a human touch.

Are we heading to the world of Gene Rodenberry’s Star Trek, where technology has enabled humanity to transform our world into “a world with no hunger, poverty, prejudice, or greed”?

Is it time to start planning for retirement and write the Great Novel inside you?

Hold your horses.

If history has taught us any lessons, revolutions have often promised paradise but delivered something far more sinister. From the French Revolution’s lofty ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity, we ended up with heads rolling and a reign of terror. Or the Bolshevik revolution promises workers parades brought on Stalin’s murderous purges and the Gulags.

Are we hurtling towards a future where our AI creations turn against us? Or a world where the power of AI is concentrated in the hands of a few, leaving the rest of us to toil like serfs? The signs are there, with the likes of Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zukerberg, and their ilk already shaping the future to their liking.

Imagine the world of George Orwell’s 1984 (see it now?), where Big Brother uses technology to create a totalitarian regime that controls every aspect of people’s lives. Or even worse, you have Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, where we lose sight of our humanity and what matters. Technology caters to all our needs, but life is devoid of meaning.

Where are we headed?

A Utopian paradise where AI frees us from drudgery and unleashes our creativity? Or a dystopian nightmare where we’re either enslaved by robots or ruled by a tech elite?

Is it too late for us to choose? Have we fallen into the rapids, and the water is taking us where it will be with us having no control?

There may still be time. We must grab the oars and steer us towards the rainbow, not the abyss.

The answer, ultimately, lies in our hands.