AI can write and predict, but it also hallucinates andlies the danger isnt AI, but ratherthinking we understand it.Patrick Drennanreports.

THIS WILL CAUSErage baitfor some (the Oxford word of the year), and will invokeaparasocialreaction from others (the Cambridge word of the year), but at least it is notvibe coding, the bizarre word of the year from Collins Dictionary which simply is a tech term for using AI.

Technically, AI is not a word nor an acronym; it is an initialism.

Artificial Intelligence (AI),or A1 as the AmericanSecretary of Education called it, is precisely described by IBM as:

Artificial intelligence can also write documents and stories, compose music, paint pictures and create images of people and events that are not real.

ChatGPTis an AI chatbotthat uses natural language processing to create humanlike conversational dialogue.

The future of intelligence human or artificial depends less on what we can build than on what we choose to teach.

AI is often a personal encyclopaedia on your phone and laptop. It allows phones to learn from personalise the user experience based on user patterns. It makes your writing easier and grammatically correct.

Most banks and online services use AI for fraud detection by analysing transaction patterns to flag suspicious activity in real-time.

AI-programmed Drone warfareis becoming commonplace in the Ukraine War. Some of these drones operate without any human operators. The ethical implications of the use of AI in drone warfare raises questions about the delegation of life-or-death decisions to machines, and the potential for unintended consequences, such as drones being programmed to attack non-combatants.

Everyday jobsthat may be lost to AI include customer service representatives, receptionists, insurance underwriters, accountants, computer system analysts, coders and even baristas.

However,many employers who rushed onto the AI bandwagon are realising that they still need human input. For example, doctors who use AI for diagnosis support, still need to make the final medical opinion, and engineers who use AI to prototype faster, still provide the high-level thinking of architectural design and business logic that AI cannot.

Evidence showsthat some companies that laid off staff in 2025 in anticipation of AI doing their tasks are now rehiring them.

Theres a healthy amount of fear that AI is taking over, but there are other areas across all industries that still rely on creativity, strategic thinking, problem-solving and just being human.

For example, AI editors can check books and articles for plagiarism, spelling and grammar, but only human editors can review pace, context and judgement.

Big Little AIlies.

AI is often only as reliable as the human who programmed it.

Here are some eclectic examples:

Astudy from Deakin Universityfound that ChatGPT fabricated about one in five of its academic citations, while half of its citations contained other error-laden elements of generative AI hallucination.

Humanoid AI may dazzle with imitation, but without a living body to think and feel, it can never truly be one of us.

TheU.S. PIRG Education Fundissued areportthat examined advanced tech toys for young children that, using ChatGPT, not only interacted and reordered conversations with children, but also discussed adult subjects with them, including kinks, kissing and religion.

Ever see those AI-generated recreations of ancient cities like Pompeii and Rome? While they are very useful models, they are not historically accurate.In one instance,relating to Ancient Rome, historians noted that the buildings, baths, chariots, and even the legionnaire uniforms, were wrong.

In another example, famous rock saxophonist Bobby Keys jokingly claimed to have played on Elvis Presleys hit songReturn to Sender. AI now records that as a fact when the actual saxophonist was Nashville sidemanBoots Randolf.

A Google AI Overviews tool has recentlytold some userssearching for how to make cheese stick to pizza better that they could use non-toxic glue.

AsPaul Budde, a telecommunications expert, explains, AI will never be able to react to the outside environment as a human does it does not have theflexible and adoptable cognitive abilitynor the human ability to fight harmful organisms like bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

Perhaps,Merriam-Webstergot it right when their word of the year wasslop:

Patrick Drennanis a journalist based in New Zealand, with a degree in American history and economics.

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