One day, you open Insta and find people posing for pictures as if they were part of a retro-portrait shoot; the next, you might find yourself stepping into a Ghibli film, complete with soft colours and dreamy backgrounds. Very recently, the ’80s trend had social media feeds awash with colourful, nostalgic recreations. The scale of it is hard to miss – around three million people took part in the trend within the first 24 hours, and that’s not even counting those who tried it without posting their results online.
This clearly shows how AI has made it easy to reimagine ourselves, with a new visual style or trend taking over social media every two months. From netizens to celebrities, many are happy to join in for a little fun. Even for Krishna Janmashtami, children dressed as Krishna could be given an AI makeover, showing just how easily a person or child can be reimagined with just a click. As people continue feeding personal details into AI tools, the excitement also comes with questions about what happens to those images, who has consented to their use and how much AI use is too much?
AI is not as harmless as it seems. Anyone who thinks it is is either unaware or closing their eyes to what’s happening. A large section of users who enjoy the perks of AI are ignorant of these things. We need stricter regulations on the platforms we use for our own safety and privacy. AI is still in its early stages, so this is the right time to educate everyone. I’m not against trends or fun, but the current situation is like giving a machine gun to a chimpanzee. AI can learn and upskill itself which is why it is so different from all the other inventions. Better regulations by companies that use natural resources to power AI could be a good start. AI should be doing jobs that humans don’t want to do and helping us solve problems faster.
When computers came along, they changed the way work was done, but there was still a clear role for human thinking. Over time, the two found a way to complement each other. I hope we find a similar balance with AI. Right now, there is confusion about where that line should be, and that uncertainty is what worries me more than the tool itself. When I sit down to write something, there’s always a small voice telling me I can be rough and unfiltered because I have the backup of AI to clean things up. For me, the important thing is making sure that using AI to do something better or faster doesn’t slowly become an excuse for not thinking about it myself. At the end of the day, human judgement is still what makes technology useful.
AI trends are not inherently bad; a lot of them are fun and creative. As a designer, I use AI to generate ideas, brainstorm, explore different directions and see what’s possible. I don’t think we need to feel guilty every time we use AI. If you look at almost every major invention in history, there have always been two sides to it – AI is no different. Responsible AI isn’t about being afraid of technology or stopping ourselves from using it. It’s about understanding the tool, knowing its limitations and consequences, and being thoughtful about how and why we choose to use it.
You cannot put the power of governance of AI in the hands of companies that are profiting from it. We don’t have a standalone governance body or ethics committees; we don’t have the wise looking at this from a lens and questioning as to where to draw the line. While I’m not an AI cynic and believe that it can be leveraged well if used smartly, I’m also somebody who is concerned about where the laws are. Who is framing them? Who is governing them? Who is creating these laws? Who is the person on whom accountability rests? And if it’s not present, then it’s time to start thinking about those frameworks and talking about them.
People are easily influenced by trends and are willing to put personal details because everyone else is doing it. I see this in my own life as a creator too. If I’m forming a sentence, creating a caption or even checking grammar, my first instinct is to go use ChatGPT. When I think about how this dependence is growing, it makes me question where we’re headed. I don’t think enough people are thinking about the risks. Right now, AI trends feel like harmless fun. But when a trend goes viral, the number of people generating images or content using AI suddenly increases massively. Even people who normally wouldn’t use AI start doing it just because it’s trending.
AI is becoming part of how we create, communicate and even relive the past, but the excitement around it cannot come at the cost of ignoring its real-world impact. The conversation needs to move to how responsibly we deploy it. The nostalgia around ’80s avatars is harmless on the surface, but it reflects how people are embracing technology without understanding what powers it. Questions around energy, water consumption, data infrastructure and long-term safety need to become part of the mainstream conversation.