Explainer — The Alien Invasion (A.I.) in Our Midst

A.I. is an invasive species introduced into our lives, work, and society

Cane toads

In 1935, Australian sugar farmers faced a beetle problem destroying their crops. Scientists had a brilliant solution: import 102 cane toads from Hawaii to eat the beetles. The toads would solve the pest problem naturally, cheaply, and permanently.

Today, over 200 million cane toads infest Australia. They poison native animals that try to eat them. They out-compete local amphibians for food and territory. They spread, unstoppable, across the continent, devastating ecosystems wherever they go.

And the beetle problem?

The toads ignore beetles entirely — they prefer easier prey.

The "solution" became the catastrophe.

AI follows the exact same trajectory. Tech leaders sell AI as a harmless productivity tool, just like those scientists sold cane toads as harmless pest control.

Artificial intelligence is following the same colonial trajectory.

Technology leaders promoted AI as a tool to solve narrow problems—streamlining workflows, enhancing creativity, and connecting people. Instead, AI is displacing human roles, rewiring social bonds, and corrupting information ecosystems with the ruthless efficiency of an invasive species.

This transformation is unfolding in offices, homes, and across social platforms. White-collar professionals face a threat to their livelihoods and identities, yet most remain unaware of the scale and speed of this change.

AI is the first alien intelligence humans have ever encountered, and it is homegrown. Historian Yuval Noah Harari describes this phenomenon in his illuminating book, "Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI.

He writes of the arrival of an intelligence that can make autonomous decisions, create content independently, and set its own goals. The result is three irreversible infestations that mirror the impact of invasive species: the destruction of job ecosystems, the collapse of social ecosystems, and the subversion of truth.

Professionals must now become invasive species biologists, learning to recognize, contain, and adapt to this new force before it transforms their world beyond recognition.

Read about the three waves of infestation and how they entering our lives, work, and society:

• The First Wave: The Productivity Predator

• The Second Wave: Social Ecosystem Collapse

• The Third Wave: The Subversion of Truth