AI Isn't a Judgy McJudgerson

Is that one of the reasons we love it so?

AI won’t tell you that your shoes are ugly.

Or that your hair is a hot mess.

AI won’t bring up that story from the summer you were 4 and used the adjective “damn” four times in four consecutive sentences while your devout Catholic parents stood there with their jaws on the ground. (You didn’t know what it meant but you sure found out fast.)

AI — unlike most humans — will do exactly what you tell it to do.

And AI will sit in your phone and whisper sweet nothings if that’s what you ask it for.

This is what makes AI soooo attractive. And maybe why the #1 use for generative AI in 2025 has been “therapy and companionship.” (See the Top 10 list here.)

“And then I said, “Why can’t you commit? You just committed to that third beer.”

Because Sometimes You Just Want a Big Mac

I recently read a fascinating marketing piece about the implementation of AI kiosks at McDonald’s.

McD’s expected that after they installed AI kiosks for orders (in place of humans), there would be a drop in sales as customers initially disliked the screens before getting used to them.

That’s not what happened.

Sales INCREASED right from the jump.

Why?

Three factors:

1. Consistent upsell by the kiosk (AI doesn’t get tired of saying, “Would you like fries with that?”)

2. Improved speed of service.

3. People ordered MORE. There were savory images on the screen close to their faces but also — without a human in front of them — customers felt LESS GUILT about buying more.

Makes sense, right?

I know the last thing I want when I order fast food is a side of judgment. Just give me my heart attack in a sack, dammit.

Damn. Even AI cheeseburgers look good.

I know that grease monster is bad for me … but I want it anyhow. I don’t eat fast food often (burgers and my GI system fight each other like Bloods and Crips) but about once a month, I buy a cheeseburger and totally enjoy it. And then I’m good to go for another month! (Although I don’t order from a McD’s screen but from a real human at a local Seattle institution called Dick’s. YMMV.)

But Here’s the Problem

As lovely as that lack of judgment is, AI has some real problems.

And it doesn’t have soul. Or free will.

But we humans do.

And what we do next as we live in the age of growing AI is pretty important.

There’s a new MIT study that is rather concerning. AI could be causing harm in developing brains that will not be visible for decades. Changes that have cellular implications on a broad level for millions of humans. Changes that can’t be reversed. So we need to study this field more and pretty damn quickly.

WTF, AI, where is Becky’s head? You got better at hands but not heads? How is she going to eat her Big Mac?

So maybe it’s time that we need to consider if AI should have an age restriction, like cigarettes and alcohol and other things we know are bad for developing brains. But we need to figure that out fast because the clock is ticking — and our gerontocratic government is unlikely to even be using AI, let alone pushing for studying its effects.

Meanwhile, I’m enjoying my use of AI … but I’m an adult. Or at least I think I am.

What do you think? (About AI, not whether I am an adult.)

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