The Arrival of Artificial Intelligence: A Generational Moment
By Stephen Doherty
August 23rd, 2026
“Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware
at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th.” –Terminator 2: Judgment Day
A million years from now, I wonder if archeologists will dig up clues to the times we currently live in and ask themselves the burning question, “Was this the end of their beginning … or the beginning of their end?” For better or worse – artificial intelligence is gaining a foothold in all aspects of our personal and professional lives in ways unimaginable only a few short years ago. Our ability to harness and leverage this generational zeitgeist will certainly determine how … and very likely IF mankind survives the benefits and consequences of what it has unleashed.
Every generation encounters technologies that divide life into a “before and after.” Electricity transformed the night. The automobile conquered distance. Television brought the world into our living rooms. The internet demolished geographical boundaries. The smartphone placed much of human knowledge into our pockets. Artificial intelligence may ultimately dwarf them all.
I have never been a huge techie, but my usage of AI is unfurling at an exponential rate. My best description of its utility is something akin to an incredibly powerful and adept aggregator of information and data – but with a quickly developing familiarity with my individual tendencies, preferences, data-sets, personalities, history, patterns and trends, etc. I was unprepared for the level of intimacy I quickly established with Chat GBT as my usage patterns have quickly evolved.
I won’t bore you with countless examples of how I’ve used AI for everything from home repair to vacation trip design and architecture – but I will share the seminal example that has made me a forever fan. I gathered literally hundreds of pages of health metric data from health device downloads (Fitbit, Hume, Morpheus) to Biome gut bacteria testing to a genetic methylation DNA test results to a 250, health marker blood profile workup. Collectively, while there might be snippets of “interesting” data points housed in this encyclopedic collection of personal health information – full utilization is nearly impossible to attain due to the sheer size and complexity of the information.
I fed all of this information, hundreds of pages, into Chat GBT – and in less than ten seconds, it reviewed and analyzed all of the data and created a two-page Executive Health Summary that you couldn’t acquire if you spent a week and a million dollars at the Mayo Clinic!
What makes AI different is that it doesn’t merely extend our physical capabilities – It extends our intellectual ones. For the first time in history, ordinary people have immediate access to technology that can analyze, teach, write, calculate, translate, research, organize, create and reason alongside them. We are no longer simply building better tools. We are building tools that help us think. Yes, AI is adjunct and peripheral – but rapidly integrates and expands our own cognitive capacities and life possibilities.
There are legitimate reasons for caution. AI can amplify misinformation, eliminate certain jobs, invade privacy and concentrate enormous power. We will need laws, ethical boundaries and continuing vigilance. Perhaps most importantly, we must resist allowing technological convenience to diminish the uniquely human qualities of curiosity, relationships, empathy and independent thought. I would apply to AI the same quote that Benjamin Franklin uttered when asked, “Well Doctor … what have we got; a Republic or a monarchy?”
Franklin replied with the words that still follow us today. “A Republic … if you can keep it!” AI will harbor similar generational realities. Time will tell if we’ve architected our finest nirvanic indulgence – or the seeds of our own demise and destruction. Time will tell …
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.
Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” —Rumi
