“Walmart CEO Doug McMillon says the AI wave is here and will change every job,” Morning Brew reported and thanks, but now tell us something we didn’t know. “The world’s largest retailer currently employs about 2.1 million workers globally, and it plans to maintain that head count for the next three years, while still growing revenue. McMillon told the Associated Press it’s hard to say how it will all play out, but corporate jobs will likely get hit first, and roles dealing directly with customers will change more gradually. A recent survey from BetterUp and Stanford found that 40% of US workers reported receiving AI-generated “workslop” over the past month, which can require extra human work to fix.

Peter Theil had a lot to say about AI lately, too, when he was asked to “comment on theology, history, literature, and politics of the Antichrist,” according to a description provided by ActS 17 Collective, the nonprofit sponsoring an off-the-record series at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco,” said Inc.

ACTS 17, is an acronym for “Acknowledging Christ in Technology and Society,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

What happens in Vegas is meant to stay in Vegas, but in this age of tech and social media, it doesn’t always quite work out that way.

“One attendee, who works in Silicon Valley and spoke on the condition of anonymity, summarized Thiel’s general Antichrist thesis: “The Antichrist hasn’t arrived yet, but if we keep moving in that direction of being afraid of technological progress, that’s going to lead the Antichrist to appear.”

In other words, some not so great stuff is afoot and again, tell us something we didn’t know.

“During the second installment, Thiel didn’t call a particular person or institution today’s Antichrist, but did make vague references to a potential “central power that’s controlling the narrative and influencing people globally,” the attendee explained. “It might come across as good power, but in reality it’s a disguise,” said Inc.

And one only needs to look at government intervention/oversight to understand what Thiel is truly driving at. In case you missed it, Thailand Freezes Over 3 Million Bank Accounts, Armstrong Economics reported. “Thailand has become a case study for the use of biometric data in every facet of life. Every banking transaction is monitored and scrutinized. Any perceived discrepancy is flagged as fraud and punished without due process. Regulations have overwhelmed the system, resulting in a full-fledged banking crisis. Over three million Thai bank accounts were frozen instantaneously without warning as a result of government overreach.”

Not that Digital IDs are anything to worry about, where governments have access to every part of your life, every social media post you’ve ever done, and note to self, digital ID cards are coming to Britain, “to ensure the country’s “borders are more secure,” of course, according to the BBC, who assures us that “The IDs will not have to be carried day-to-day, but they will be compulsory for anyone wanting to work.”Australian lawmakers swore their Digital ID bill was optional when it passed in December 2024. Now citizens need age checks to perform a basic Google search. First it’s convenience, then it’s control, just as Facebook simply wished to bring the world closer together.

The Patriot Act, which was introduced after the events of 9/11/2001, led to the unbridled expansion of the surveillance state, in the name of safety, of course. As Benjamin Franklin warned so long ago “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

AI oversight in the hands of government?

“A government that’s powerful enough to stop something like AI … has to have some sort of global totalitarian character,” Thiel warned. He argues that while AI regulation is necessary, there’s a slippery slope in giving governments the power to oversee and stop advanced technology development, said Benzinga via Yahoo!finance back in 2024.

What to speak of what is yet to be created – and for what purposes?

Not that Thiel is alone in his concerns by any stretch of the imagination. “In his Nobel Prize speech, (Geoffrey) Hinton warned that AI is no longer just a tool for progress. He said it’s already causing harm by creating echo chambers online, enabling governments to conduct mass surveillance, and helping criminals run phishing scams on a global scale.

“He went further, saying AI might soon be used to create new viruses or autonomous weapons that choose their own targets. But the most serious concern, according to Hinton, is that we are on track to build digital beings more intelligent than humans. He said we still have no idea if we’ll be able to control them. And if they are created by companies that prioritize short-term profits, public safety will not be the main concern.

“Hinton called for urgent action from governments and international institutions. These risks, he said, are no longer science fiction.” The Instragram posting is here (The Godfather of AI wins the Nobel Prize and issues a spooky warning) and do keep in mind that Hinton is a computer scientist who worked at Google, while Thiel has been more or less inside government itself. Always consider the source, founders, and trust us, both these men are subject matter experts.

There’s no stopping AI and we are not at all suggesting any such thing. We are merely reminding you that AI is a tool and one that requires human intervention, especially considering the recent BetterUp and Stanford survey. Our concern is that, once government gets involved, once again what-  or who truly – become the tools. And tell us something that we didn’t know. Onward and forward.