By Leo Jennings
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been living among us for years at this point. The 2010s was the start of integrating AI into daily life for many individuals, with many smartphone brands introducing AI assistance, such as Siri and Alexa. It wasn’t until the 2020s where generative AI started to be pushed into the public. DALL-E, an AI system that turns text to images, was released to the public in 2021. The infamous ChatGPT was made accessible to the public in 2022. When generative AI first came out, no one could have truly predicted the rapid rise in its use and how fast it could have possibly grown. In 2023, a Reddit user by the name of Chaindrop posted a video of celebrity Will Smith eating spaghetti that was generated by AI. This clip became popular and showed just how poor AI was at the time. Everyone made fun of it for its low quality and overall how horrible the video looked. Now in 2026, there are whole new social media platforms made for generating and sharing AI content. The difficulty of telling if a video or image is AI has become harder and harder.
While AI-generated content can be all fun in games at first, like the Pope wearing Balenciaga, or a shark wearing sneakers saying “Tralaleo tralala,” it unfortunately has taken some serious turns. Around November 2025, videos of a well-known YouTuber, Jake Paul, circulated on the internet of him “coming out as gay.” In these videos, Jake Paul sounds and looks just like his typical self. Only… his skin is too clear, motions too smooth, and illogical actions with movement and objects. I admit that when I first saw those videos, I believed it was really him, but it turned out to be completely AI. Shortly after this AI deepfake video of Jake Paul was uploaded, Paul made a statement, addressing the situation, “I’ve had it with the AI stuff. It’s affecting my relationships, businesses…” This incident with AI is one of many, but shows how AI can and has been (and will continue) to be used for harm, such as defamation of character.
Along similar lines, AI has been used to fabricate situations and create false “realities.” In late January of 2026, images of New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, spread. These photos showed Mamdani as a child and his mother standing with Jeffrey Epstein. These photos often came with captions claiming that Mamdani’s mother was on Epstein’s Island and in the Epstein files. It did not take long before this was debunked and shown that those images were generated by AI.
These two instances are key to understanding how AI has helped spread incorrect information. Misinformation (incorrect information shared without harmful intent) and disinformation (incorrect information shared with the intention of harm) both lead to a plethora of problems, such as dangers to public health/safety, erosion of democracy and trust, economic and social damage, and even negative psychological or cognitive effects.
AI has also been used as a weapon, especially against women and children on the internet. Unrestricted generative AI, such as X’s GROK AI, has been used numerous times over and over again to alter and generate inappropriate images of people. These images are often taken from someone’s personal social media or any photo/video of them, given to AI with specific prompts like “remove my shirt,” and then the AI will spit out new, nude photos without the consent of the person in the photos. This misuse of AI has had horrible impacts on many unfortunate victims. According to ReliefWeb, 1 in 5 children have had AI child sexual abuse material made of them. This number only increases in frequency for adults.
The internet isn’t the only place where harm from AI is felt. According to Louna Lin, at the current moment, around 17% of the job market is taken by AI. Some researchers predict that AI will take up to 50-60% of the job market by 2040. Jobs such as content writers, graphic designers, customer service assistants, linguists, data entry clerks, journalists, and many more have already seen high rates of AI use in place of humans. Some employers see benefit in using AI in place of humans because the work can get done quicker, and they don’t have to dish out another paycheck. On the flip side, some argue that this thought process is wrong. AI has a 40-60% “fabrication” rate, where the information provided is simply incorrect. Moreover, while AI is quick, it often isn’t to the same level of quality. Employers with the mentality of AI over humans willingly choose quantity over quality.
AI prompts also use a notable amount of water for each individual prompt. A medium-length reply from generative AI can use anywhere from 2.3 milliliters to 39 milliliters (this number varies based on which AI models you’re using, location, time of day, and many other factors) of water per prompt. and simply get to the point: “AI relies on massive data hubs, which store large amounts of information on many servers that require a lot of physical space. Accessing all that data to generate a response uses lots of energy, which generates significant heat since that energy comes from burning fossil fuels. In addition, data hubs use water to cool down their servers; this water cannot be reused because of the potential exposure to electrical or chemical hazards. Beverly Morris is a woman living in Georgia, right next to an AI data hub. She retired in 2016, believing she had found her dream home. She now barely has running water. She uses water buckets to flush her toilet and bathe. She can’t drink the water from her own home. All of the water near her has been drained, going directly to the AI data hub. These conditions are not ideal for anyone.
While a single AI prompt might not use a significant amount of energy or water, the incorporation of AI into every search engine, creation of deepfakes, AI chatbot systems (like Charater AI), and overall incorporation of AI into daily life means that AI is used billions of times a day. This causes the rate of use to increase, leading to ever-greater consumption of water and energy. This overuse and energy/water consumption have also led to increased energy prices, higher water bills, and more, further burdening consumers, whether or not they use AI themselves.
Without restrictions on AI use, these issues will continue to grow. Here at The Westerner, we ensure to provide only the highest quality news and works. AI will never be used, and all of our content will continue to remain 100% human made. We will continue to pour our blood, sweat, and tears into our work. Remember: Real Students, Real News.
