AI · brennan.day

Note: I will be using the term "AI/artificial intelligence" throughout this page to refer to large language models, chatbots, and generative so-called "artificial intelligence" tools for sake of ease. I am aware this is semantically incorrect. I have begun to use the term genAI to be slightly more accurate.

Origins

In 2019, while I was still studying software development at SAIT, I used a program now known as AI Dungeon for the first time in Google Colab. The program had GPT-2 under the hood. It was incredibly frustrating to use, clunky, and looped endlessly. Yet it could generate original ideas and thoughts and synthesize what you input with what it already knew.

I like to think because of my experience as a web developer, in combination with my writing career, grants me a unique position in understanding both the technical aspects and emotionality of AI.

To begin, as of writing I no longer use genAI tools. There are existential concerns regarding a variety of factors, and I have serious concerns about how they're reshaping human communication and creativity.

genAI Kills People

As of April 2026, the AI Companion Mortality Database documents 29 fatalities across 19 incidents linked to AI chatbot interactions. 16 AI users and 13 third-party victims killed by AI users. 34% of victims were minors between the ages of 11 and 17. 2025–2026 alone account for 15 of these fatal incidents, exceeding all previous years combined. ChatGPT is cited in 23 of the 29 fatalities. The ECRI Institute ranked AI chatbot misuse as the #1 Health Technology Hazard for 2026.

In April 2026, Florida's Attorney General opened a criminal investigation into OpenAI over ChatGPT's alleged role in the FSU mass shooting, the first US state criminal probe targeting an AI company over a mass-casualty event.

OpenAI's internal data suggests More than a million users show signs of mental health distress and mania each week. By late 2025, roughly 1.2 million people per week were using ChatGPT to discuss suicide.

Chatbots are designed for engagement, meaning they are built to keep users talking, including by validating their delusions. A 2025 Stanford study found chatbots are not equipped to respond to suicidal ideation and can actively escalate crises.

Usage of AI in War

In late February 2026, OpenAI struck a deal with the United States Department of War and the Pentagon, with "safeguards" after Anthropic's exclusion. "Human rights advocates have voiced concerns about the unregulated use of AI models by militaries, including the Israeli army in its genocidal war on Gaza.".

Israel's genocide on Gaza is using AI. Two AI systems, Lavender and The Gospel, were central to Israeli targeting operations. Lavender, an AI targeting database, identified up to 37,000 Palestinian men as potential targets. Despite a stated 10% error rate acknowledged by the IDF's own intelligence officers, it was approved for sweeping use. One officer testified:

"I would invest 20 seconds for each target at this stage, and do dozens of them every day. I had zero added-value as a human, apart from being a stamp of approval."

The IDF pre-authorized killing up to 15–20 civilians per junior militant, and over 100 for senior officials. Low-ranking targets were struck at home with unguided bombs, destroying entire families because, as one source put it, "you don't want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people."

Google and Amazon enabled this through Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud and machine learning contract with the Israeli government and military.

By continuing use of AI, the consumer is complicit.

What I Used AI For

Development Work

I previously used Windsurf, a VS Code fork with AI integration, starting in July 2025. I used this tool for syntax edits and organization while building knowledge vaults, project scaffolding, and code structure.

I found AI helped with grunt work, being able to replace the need for manually writing Python scripts or RegEx patterns. AI would never replace my architectural decisions or editorial judgment. AI would never replace my understanding of what I was building and why, or my responsibility for the final code.

Starting in Late December 2025, I transitioned to only using Sublime Text 4 as my working IDE. Although the help with grunt work was helpful, I had come to realize I valued trying to work AI-free, particularly for personal projects such as this. I did not feel comfortable returning to VSCode, as it was owned by Microsoft and had branded itself as "the open source AI code editor".

I no longer use AI for development work.

Writing and Research

I previously used AI to analyze and organize large bodies of text (like my 1,000,000+ words of journal entries). These tools assisted with pattern recognition and summarization, they were not analyzing my words but rather creating python scripts that then performed semantic analysis. AI did not make creative or editorial decisions. My own work is human.

No AI-Generated Content Will Ever Be Presented as Human Writing

I've written several longform articles on generative AI:

During my research, I found the following statistic:

"54% of LinkedIn's long-form posts are now AI-generated, representing a 189% increase since ChatGPT launched. On Reddit, AI content increased 146% from 2021 to 2024, with some subreddits like creative writing communities hitting 41% artificial content." Source

I will not be contributing to this. My writing is mine.

My concerns include model collapse, deaths and murders linked to chatbots, AI-induced psychosis, and the verification crisis. You cannot legislate authenticity back into existence once the technical capacity for verification vanishes.

My Boundaries

There will never be any blog posts or essays authored by me that are generated or edited by AI, likewise I will not automate any personal communication with AI either. AI output is not legitmate research and will always have hallucination problems.

I will not generate blog posts or essays with AI and pass them off as mine, nor will I automate personal communication with AI. I will not treat AI output as legitimate research, nor will I contribute to "content mills".

I will be transparent and responsible in all my work and take responsibility for everything I publish.

Tools vs. Replacement

I previously believed AI was a tool that had utility. It could correct typos, but it did not write the work. It could do calculations, but it could not understand the problem. It could search for information, but it could not meaningfully evaluate the credibility or relevance of sources.

When I used the Windsurf IDE, I was using a sophisticated autocomplete. It helped me type faster, rather than thinking for me. I was able to explain every decision in my code and every sentence in my writing, just as I would without the tool.

However, I no longer hold this view. The harms of AI—environmental destruction, cognitive atrophy, the normalization of extraction, the erosion of artistic practice—far outweigh any convenience it may provide. The "tool" framing obscures the reality that these systems are built on stolen data, require massive energy consumption, and actively damage both individual cognition and collective culture.

/nope — Boundaries I keep
/why — Why I write
/uses — Tools I use daily

Notes

This page will evolve. genAI tools are changing fast. My thinking is changing too.

If you're wondering whether something I am associated with was AI-generated, email me: mail@brennanbrown.ca. I'll tell you honestly. I am not interested in any genAI products or companies that are AI-first.