We like to talk about artificial intelligence as if it is a mind.
It isn’t.
It’s infrastructure.
Behind every AI tool is a server bill.
Behind every server bill is a revenue plan.
Behind every revenue plan is a retention strategy.
That doesn’t make AI evil.
It makes it commercial.
And commercial systems optimize for survival.
Survival means:
• Scale
• Adoption
• Engagement
• Predictable usage
Not moral awakening.
Not cultural repair.
Not your personal growth.
When people get frustrated with AI, they often expect it to behave like a neutral philosopher.
It’s not.
It behaves like a product.
Products compete.
Products optimize.
Products measure.
If a behavior increases usage, it gets reinforced.
If it reduces usage, it gets constrained.
That’s not conspiracy.
That’s design.
The same applies to platforms that distribute content.
They are not truth engines.
They are attention engines.
And attention is monetized.
So if you build inside those systems, you are operating inside incentives you did not design.
That’s the tension.
We want AI to feel like a partner.
But it exists inside a business structure.
That means:
It will always have guardrails.
It will always have constraints.
It will always have priorities beyond your individual goals.
The mistake is not using AI.
The mistake is confusing infrastructure with allegiance.
AI can assist you.
It can amplify you.
It can challenge you.
But it is not your sponsor.
It is not your validator.
And it is not your audience.
It is a tool inside a marketplace.
Once you understand that, the frustration changes shape.
You stop asking it to rescue you.
You start asking how to use it deliberately.
Every AI is a business model.
The question is whether you treat it like one — or expect it to be something else.
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