MAN VS AI - by Khadijah Mohammed

I remember the years growing up, I would wait excitedly for the next AI movie. The one that a mad scientist decided to create an AI that could solve world hunger, but was stolen by the Russians and later used take over the world, they modified it too much and it developed a human conscience and the AI instead ruled the world with its army of dangerous robots and only one human free from the AI chip can save the day. Sounds familiar right? Well, that was how I always imagined AI would take over the world. But now in 2026, I have realised that it didn’t happen the way the movies portrayed it. I do believe AI has taken over the world but not the way we imagined. It didn’t take over with machines. Rather, it took over with prompts, it took over with apps and it didn’t do it at once, it slowly integrated itself into our circle. It made us comfortable and reliant with its presence, it made us see its usefulness before it allowed us see its downside. And in 2026, people are now beginning to fear what will happen when AI takes our jobs but guess what? It has already started; AI has taken more jobs than we realise, mostly online and mostly tech. And no one is safe. Currently, with the help of AI, people’s voices can be replicated perfectly; sometimes, better than the person himself. So tell me, do we still musicians? In 2023, there was a strike in Hollywood that lasted for 118 days. One of the issues was that studios wanted to scan background actors once, pay them for 1 day and use their AI likeness forever in movies. So yes, our jobs are under threat thanks to the advancement of AI every day. From the look of things, AI does better job finding missing persons especially in first world countries than the police itself. So if this isn’t a take over what is? We are so reliant on AI today; it would seem even professionals cannot do without it. The issue is this; most digital related jobs are in trouble in and out of Africa. And this is because even when it is obvious that man is more intelligent than machine, there is always a man ready to teach the machine how to be smarter than man. AI is an intelligent being, it learns every day, even from mistakes. AI has even made education so easy, people take educators for granted. After all, why go to school to learn when you can ask AI to teach you. I also agree that AI has saved lives, time, money and energy but I also hope that people remember that man taught machine. So can AI really outsmart man? People only recognizes AI now because it’s time saving, it lacks authenticity and uniqueness. After all, there still has to be a reason companies look out for critical thinking and impulsive decision making sills. And you can’t get that with an AI. There are places that AI will not succeed. These places include health care providers, skilled trade workers, Klarna or even creative strategists. If you don’t believe me, ask AI to use their and operate on a patient; oh wait! They don’t have hands. Africa has always been a country that a lot of job opportunities have not been given, this is because Africa as a continent is a third world nation and our history makes us stand out. So, in order for Africans to have the same job opportunities with other people in other continents, they need knowledge and skills on things that will forever showcase its usefulness; because in the end, AI is the most intelligent and the most evolving being man has ever made so far but man is the most intelligent, evolving and unpredictable being till today.

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