Most of what I consumed last month was AI-generated. The music playing while I worked. The articles I read. The images scrolling through my feeds. I didn't plan this. It just happened.
The Music Changed First
I listen to music constantly when I'm working. It helps me focus and blocks out distractions. Over the past few months, I've shifted to primarily listening to AI-generated music. Not because I set out to make that change, but because the music simply works better for my needs.
AI-generated music tends to be more technically complex. It flows more seamlessly between sections. And perhaps most importantly for deep work, it's more predictable, which paradoxically makes it easier to tune out and focus on the task at hand.
This wasn't a conscious decision to "support AI music" or make some kind of statement. It was purely functional. The AI-generated content served my needs better than the alternatives.
Then I Noticed Everything Else
After recognizing this pattern with music, I started paying attention to everything else I consumed. The blog posts I read during my morning coffee. The newsletters filling my inbox. The social media updates from thought leaders I follow. The images and increasingly, the videos populating my timeline.
When I inspected closely, most of it was AI-generated or at least AI-assisted. Some creators are transparent about this. Many are not. But the telltale signs are there: the particular cadence of the writing, the uncanny smoothness of the images, the slightly-too-perfect compositions.
It doesn't bother me. In fact, much of this AI-generated content is higher quality, more consistent, and more useful than what came before.
Similar Patterns From History
This pattern looks familiar. I've seen this exact trajectory twice before in recent history, and each time it reshaped how we create and consume information.
The Internet Revolution
There was a time when most content we consumed came from physical sources: newspapers, magazines, books, television broadcasts. The internet changed all of that.
Today, most content is created for the internet and consumed on the internet. We don't think of a news article as "internet content" anymore. We just think of it as content. The medium became invisible because it became ubiquitous.
The Mobile Revolution
Then came mobile devices, which created another shift. Initially, we thought of mobile as just a way to access internet content on the go. But it became much more than that.
Today, most text messages are authored on mobile devices. Most social media posts originate from phones. Most photos and videos are captured on mobile cameras. And crucially, most of this content is also consumed on mobile devices.
We don't say "I'm reading a mobile email" or "I'm watching a mobile video." We just read emails and watch videos. The mobile medium has become so pervasive that it's invisible.
The AI Revolution
AI is following this same trajectory. We're currently in the transition phase where we still consciously note that something is "AI-generated." But that won't last.
Soon, we won't think of content as created "by AI" at all. Instead, we'll simply recognize it as content created "from AI."
The bottom line is that AI should not be thought of as a tool, but rather as the medium itself through which content is created and consumed.
Every Medium Has Side Effects
Every new medium brings both capabilities and constraints. Each comes with its own set of side effects that eventually become defining characteristics of that medium.
The Internet's Side Effects
The internet gave us unprecedented access to information, but it also gave us information overload. It enabled global connection, but it also gave rise to echo chambers, misinformation, and online toxicity. We had to develop new literacies around evaluating sources, detecting fake news, and managing our attention.
Mobile's Side Effects
Mobile devices gave us constant connectivity and the ability to capture moments instantly. But they also gave us more typos (which is partly why email signatures still say "sent from my iPhone" as an apology and explanation for errors). They brought us persistent distraction and the expectation of instant response. They created an avalanche of text message spam and low-effort communication.
AI's Side Effects
AI gives us the ability to create vast amounts of content quickly and to personalize experiences at scale. But it also gives us hallucinations: confident assertions of false information. It's creating floods of what some call "slop," low-quality content optimized for algorithms rather than humans. It's making it harder to verify authenticity and origin.
These side effects aren't bugs to be fixed. They're inherent characteristics of the medium that we need to learn to navigate.
Adaptation Is Nothing New
We've successfully adapted to the side effects of previous mediums. We didn't abandon the internet because of information overload. Instead, we developed better search engines, fact-checking systems, and digital literacy skills.
We didn't stop using mobile devices because of typos and distraction. We created autocorrect, developed new social norms around response times, and built tools to manage our attention.
The same will happen with AI. We're already seeing the early stages:
- New methods to detect AI-generated content when it matters
- Systems to verify authenticity and provenance
- Tools to filter signal from noise in an environment of unprecedented content volume
- Evolved expectations around what constitutes original work
What This Means for Content Creation
Purely human-created content is becoming rare. Not because human creativity has become obsolete, but because AI has become so integrated into our creative processes that separating human from AI contributions gets harder every day.
Most content will be created from AI, whether that means using AI to generate first drafts, to edit and refine, to create supporting images, to optimize for different platforms, or to fully automate creation. The human role will be more about curation, direction, and quality control than pure creation.
This doesn't diminish human creativity. If anything, it elevates it. Just as photographers didn't become less creative when cameras became automatic, and writers didn't become less creative when word processors replaced typewriters, creators won't become less creative when AI handles more of the execution.
Shaping What Comes Next
The faster we accept AI as a medium rather than fighting it as a tool, the better positioned we'll be to shape what comes next.
This means:
- Developing new standards and norms for AI-assisted creation
- Building systems that work with AI's capabilities and limitations
- Creating frameworks for attribution and authenticity that make sense in an AI-mediated world
- Focusing on the uniquely human elements (judgment, taste, strategic thinking, and emotional resonance) that AI amplifies rather than replaces
AI is the new medium. Treating it as just another tool misses the bigger picture. It's becoming the environment in which we create and consume, and understanding that shift influences how we approach the changes ahead.
