The AI Gap:
Why We’re Not Ready for Superintelligence
1. Technological Leaps
From GPT-3 to the Next AI Revolution
AI does not develop in small steps, but in artificial giant leaps. In 2020, OpenAI introduced GPT-3, a model that could already generate impressive texts. Less than three years later, GPT-4 followed, which produces essays, code, and even high-level medical analyses. Now we stand on the brink of the next leap: OpenAI's o3 model has shown impressive reasoning skills, with performance on certain benchmarks equaling or surpassing the human level.
Meanwhile, we see that AI is not only getting smarter, but is also physically entering the world. Self-driving cars are no longer futuristic; they are already being tested in several cities worldwide. Humanoid robots, such as those developed by Figure AI and Tesla’s Optimus, are becoming increasingly advanced and can in the near future take over simple tasks in factories and stores. Tesla has plans to produce several thousand units by the end of 2025, which could be a first step toward large-scale integration of AI-driven robots in the labor market. This raises fundamental questions about the future of work and the role of human labor in a world where machines can do more and more.
What is considered advanced today is outdated tomorrow. AI models that were seen as revolutionary just a year ago are overtaken within a few months by new versions with exponentially better performance.
"How do we prepare for technology that advances so fast that most people barely understand what is happening?"
This question is more urgent than ever. While governments and companies struggle to formulate policies and regulations, AI continues unabated. Legislation typically lags behind technological developments, but with AI we risk falling behind not by years, but by decades.
What does this mean for society when policymakers lose control over technologies that can affect all our industries and jobs? How do we develop laws, ethical frameworks, and educational programs when the discussion has barely begun?
2. The Gap Between the AI Bubble and the Rest of Society
Although AI is developing at lightning speed, people live in two completely different worlds. On one hand, there is a group that fully embraces and uses AI daily, while on the other, a majority hardly know what AI really is or how it changes their lives.
The gap is growing, and that worries me. Those who delve into AI see the exponential progress and the impact on virtually every aspect of society. But those outside this bubble hardly notice anything—until it’s suddenly too late to adapt.
The Four AI Groups of Wietse Hage
In the AI Report podcast (formerly Poki 😉), @Wietse Hage and Alexander Klöpping discuss the latest AI developments every week. In one of the recent episodes, Wietse expressed his concerns about how quickly AI is developing and stated that governments might need to hit the brakes. He identified four main groups in which people find themselves when it comes to AI:
• Business-as-usual group: People who see AI as a handy tool, similar to a smartphone. They acknowledge that AI is useful, but do not believe that it will fundamentally change the world.
• Business-as-usual-plus group: People who do realize that AI is developing at a rapid pace, but do not yet take its impact fully seriously.
• Disruption group: People who view AI as a revolutionary technology, comparable to the internet. They foresee far-reaching consequences for work, geopolitics, and society.
• Devout group: People who believe that AI will soon completely surpass us, with existential consequences.
Most people still fall into the first two groups. And many policymakers probably do as well, while ideally they should be in the disruption group. In practice, governments and companies often lag behind, partly due to slow legislative processes and partly due to a lack of technical knowledge. As a result, regulations may indeed lag decades behind the lightning-fast AI developments.
My Own Place in This Gap
Although I primarily place myself in the disruption group and worry about the speed and impact of AI, I am at the same time enormously enthusiastic about technological progress. AI shows how innovation can accelerate processes, stimulate creativity, and open up new possibilities that were unthinkable just a few years ago. I try out almost every new tool, follow the latest developments, and experiment with AI in my work to make processes more efficient.
Yet I notice that I often end up in discussions with people who see AI as “just a handy tool.” This became painfully clear during a conversation with a young colleague, who remarked:
"Yes, ChatGPT is going to change our jobs. And AI too, I've heard."
When I explained that ChatGPT itself is also AI, she looked surprised. This moment perfectly summarizes my concerns: many people do not understand the basics of AI, let alone the enormous impact it will have on work, education, and our society as a whole.
I do not view AI as an entirely negative force, but as a tool that—if used and guided properly—can play a crucial role in work, education, healthcare, and in tackling major societal challenges such as labor shortages, the energy crisis, and climate issues. I even believe that AI can ultimately help solve humanity's great problems, simply because in ten years it will be exponentially smarter than we are.
At the same time, the gap between AI-native users and the rest creates a risk of uneven adoption. Early adopters, like myself, already notice how significant that head start is. This brings a strange tension: on one hand, I am fascinated and excited about what is possible, while on the other, I feel a growing unease about the gap that is forming.
💡 What does this mean for the gap?
Just as the digital revolution created a divide between the 'internet-literate' and the 'digitally illiterate', AI leads to a split between people who use the technology daily and the rest.
The question remains: will AI remain a tool for everyone, or will it become an exclusive instrument for an elite who knows how to harness it?
3. Art and Culture as Reflection and Solution
Art as a Mirror of AI
My background as a photographer, artist, and student at the Photography Academy has shown me how art can be a mirror—both on a personal and societal level. As I delved deeper into the impact of AI, I wondered why this conversation remains so limited to tech circles. Why do so many people still not realize how significant these changes are? The exhibitions on digital art and AI that I visited reinforced that feeling.
One of the works that moved me was The Future of Something by Jonas Lund. This artwork explores how technology affects human fears, authenticity, and creativity. It shows how people struggle in a digital world where human interactions are increasingly replaced by AI. During the exhibition, I saw something that I often miss in the public debate: a deeper reflection on what AI does to us.
Why Art Helps Us Understand AI
Art offers a way to not only understand AI, but also to experience it. Discussions about AI often revolve around technical aspects, ethical dilemmas, and regulations, but art touches a deeper level: the emotional and intuitive.
Imagine if schools not only taught AI classes, but also organized mandatory museum visits to exhibitions on technology and the future. Not as dry explanations, but as a way to feel where we are headed.
Even for policymakers, art can provide an accessible perspective. Perhaps politicians don't need in-depth technical knowledge, as long as they understand the impact of AI. A work like The Future of Something can intuitively show them what AI does to us. Mandatory museum visits for the cabinet might sound absurd, but it could very well have a snowball effect.
Art as a Mirror of Technological Power
During my visit to Calculating Empires, a data visualization project by Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler, I was confronted with how art not only explains technology, but also reflects on the entanglement of power, resources, labor, and data. The printing press, the steam engine, and the internet not only changed the economy, but also our way of thinking and distributing power. AI repeats this pattern, but with a speed and impact that we cannot yet fully comprehend.
💡 Question: What does it mean if AI not only takes over work, but also influences strategic decisions, creative processes, and perhaps even legislation? Who then determines the direction in which we go?
Concrete Proposals
• Make art more accessible: Ensure free access to museums for young people, so that they come into contact with art about AI and technology.
• Mandatory AI exhibitions in education: Integrate these exhibitions as a full part of the curriculum.
• Art as an awareness tool in politics: Let policymakers consult not only AI experts, but also artists and philosophers who map out the societal impact of technology.
💡 Core Message: Art shows us what cannot be captured directly in numbers. And that is exactly what we need in a time when AI is changing faster than we can keep up.
4. AI in Historical Perspective
Every technological breakthrough has changed the world. The printing press democratized knowledge, the industrial revolution replaced physical labor, and the internet globalized communication. AI is often placed in the same category, but it is fundamentally different: it changes not only what we do, but also how we think, learn, and work.
Why is AI different?
• Printing Press: Spread knowledge, but did not directly change who held the power over information.
• Industrial Revolution: Mobilized physical strength, but human cognitive ability remained necessary.
• Internet: Accelerated communication and brought people together, but gave tech companies enormous influence.
• AI: Can not only take over existing tasks, but also learn, decide, and manipulate information independently.
The greatest challenge is that we do not know how fast and in which direction AI will develop. With previous revolutions, we had decades to adapt, but AI develops exponentially—what is new today is outdated tomorrow.
How do we deal with this?
The question is not whether AI will have an impact, but how we deal with it. Should we slow everything down? Or should we better prepare ourselves?
💡 Concrete Solutions:
• Increase awareness: AI must not remain a black box; society must understand what is happening.
• Adapt regulations to the speed of innovation: Laws should not only follow after damage has been done.
• Drastically reform education: Young people should not be trained for jobs that will soon no longer exist.
• Promote AI literacy: Everyone should have basic knowledge of how AI works and what its consequences are.
Where previous technologies helped humans become faster, stronger, or smarter, AI might herald the moment when humans are no longer necessary for performing crucial tasks. That is a future we cannot passively wait for; we must shape it now.
5. Education in 2027: A Time Traveler Looks Around
Education Lags Behind in a Rapidly Accelerating World
While AI is developing at lightning speed, the education system remains stuck in methods that have been unchanged for decades. Young people are being trained for a world that no longer exists. At the same time, I realize that some basic skills—such as mental arithmetic and factual knowledge—are essential for cognitive development and critical thinking.
But let's be honest: the current education model hardly prepares young people for the AI future. We keep clinging to a system in which everyone learns the same thing, at the same pace, and where a student is evaluated on reproducing knowledge that AI can generate in a fraction of a second. Where are the subjects that are truly needed in an AI-driven society?
I see the slowness of the system in my own children as well. My seven-year-old son already works on a laptop, but the way he is taught hardly differs from ten years ago. The core of his education remains focused on standard knowledge and fixed teaching methods, while the world outside the classroom is changing at a rapid pace.
The Time Traveler in the Classroom
Imagine: a child from 2030 accidentally walks into a classroom in 2024. His world consists of AI mentors, augmented reality glasses that provide real-time explanations, and a personalized learning trajectory where he only receives the material he has not yet mastered.
But in the 2024 classroom, you see students reciting rows of capitals and writing mathematical formulas on paper. The teacher stands at the front of the class, while every student follows the same lesson at the same pace, regardless of personal talents or learning needs.
The time traveler frowns:
"Why are they still learning here as they did fifty years ago?"
While the rest of the world adapts to AI, education seems like a time capsule in which technology hardly plays a role.
How Does the Classroom of the (Near) Future Look?
We must not remain stuck in theory, but provide concrete solutions. Below are five radical yet feasible changes that will align education with the AI future:
• 🚀 AI mentors as educational assistants:
AI helps teachers by monitoring individual progress and offers students personalized guidance. This way, students can work at their own pace and receive immediate extra support when needed.
• 📚 A more flexible education model:
Young people must have more freedom of choice in the subjects they wish to explore. AI can help discover where their talents lie. New subjects such as technology ethics, AI literacy, and mindfulness thus gain a place in the curriculum.
• 🎬 AI education through films and interactive media:
Films such as Ex Machina, Black Mirror, Blade Runner, and H.E.R. can be used to make ethical AI dilemmas tangible. Students receive assignments where they critically reflect on the role of AI in society.
• 🕶 Learning with AI and VR simulations:
Instead of dry theory, students get real-life scenarios to solve with AI. AI-generated cases, such as legal simulations or medical diagnoses, make the subject matter more relevant and tangible.
• 💡 AI as a tool for teachers, not as a replacement:
AI can support teachers with lesson preparations and administrative tasks, but the human aspect of education—such as collaboration, creative thinking, and discussing ethical issues—remains essential.
What Is Already Happening in Dutch Education?
Although AI is already beginning to play a role, the system remains largely traditional. There is not yet a national AI policy for secondary education, but some initiatives are:
• The Coornhert Gymnasium (Gouda): Testing AI-based teaching material.
• Gynzy and Learnbeat: Learning platforms that adjust exercises to the learning needs of students.
• National Education Lab AI (NOLAI): Investigating how AI can improve education.
💡 Conclusion:
AI is coming, but Dutch education is far from ready.
Concrete Proposals: The Buttons We Must Press NOW
1. AI literacy as a mandatory subject:
Everyone must understand what AI is and how to use it critically. Just as digital literacy is now mandatory, AI literacy must have a fixed place in the curriculum.
2. A more flexible and personalized education model:
Students must learn at their own pace and level, supported by AI.
3. AI as an assistant for teachers, not as a replacement:
AI can take over repetitive tasks, but human interaction and guidance remain crucial.
4. Integrate technology, ethics, and critical thinking into ALL subjects:
AI affects the entire society; it should not only be an elective subject for ICT students.
5. Make education proactive:
We must invest now in experiments and pilots so that we do not lag behind.
The time traveler from 2027 looks around once again. He sees a classroom where students not only consume, but also create with AI. Where technology is not only used to handle tests faster, but to solve real problems. The education he is accustomed to differs drastically from what we see now.
💡 The Question: How do we ensure that education keeps up with AI, instead of falling behind?
6. Jedi Wisdom in a World of AI
What Do We Lose When Everything Goes Effortlessly?
We live in a world where technology makes our lives increasingly easier. AI helps us make decisions, algorithms predict what we want to see, and with one click everything is within reach. But if everything goes effortlessly, what do we lose?
We lose focus, resilience, and the ability to cope with discomfort. AI takes over more and more of the thinking, and that feels pleasant—until we no longer know how to solve things ourselves. I notice this personally. Why would I structure a text if ChatGPT can do it for me? Why would I search for information myself if AI can summarize it?
That convenience sounds ideal, but paradoxically it can make us more dependent. If AI relieves us too much, we gradually lose our problem-solving ability.
"Convenience is addictive. But not everything that is easy is good for you."
We must learn to use technology consciously and with intent, otherwise we become passive consumers instead of active thinkers.
The Jedi as an Example of Digital Balance
In Star Wars, the Jedi are not only fighters but also philosophers. Their training revolves around focus, discipline, and balance. They learn to deal with temptation, with their emotions, and with the idea that true strength does not come from control, but from awareness.
These principles are relevant in a time when we are constantly distracted by technology. Instead of making conscious choices, we let algorithms decide what we see, what we buy, and even how we feel. The convenience society encourages us to take the quickest and easiest route—but is that really good for us?
I notice it in myself: I spend days behind my computer, constantly checking my phone, and getting entangled in AI tools, while my children actually need my attention. I'm not perfect, but I feel that this doesn't always make me happy. Many people, especially young people, feel that deep down as well.
Sometimes, sacrifice is good. Sometimes, it is better not to always choose the easy way. After all, you learn nothing from continuous immediate gratification, from using technology to avoid obstacles. Perhaps that is also why programs like Kamp van Koningsbrugge are so popular: because deep down, people know that a little discomfort and challenge makes them stronger.
The Jedi understood this long ago. In a world where AI is becoming increasingly dominant, we must not only develop smart technology, but also remain smart, conscious people.
7. From Writer to Pilot to Passenger?
Reflection and Final Thought
When I began this essay, I knew one thing for sure: I wanted to make a well-founded contribution to the discussion about AI. What I did not expect is that AI itself would play such a large role in the creation of this text.
This essay was written with the help of AI, but not by AI. I did not use AI as a machine that thought for me, but as a sparring partner that sharpened my thoughts, honed my arguments, and broadened my knowledge. My writing style is sometimes less fluent and my sentences can be chaotic, but AI helped me filter out the noise. In the end, the direction remained entirely mine. Without AI, this essay would look different—and without my own thinking, it would never have existed.
7.1 AI as an Accelerator, Not a Replacement
During the writing process, I used tools such as Google Deep Research and Google Notebook LM to search through gigantic amounts of information faster. I loaded and analyzed privacy documents from OpenAI's security portal to better understand how AI is regulated. While AI helped me bring structure and organize information, I had to make the interpretations myself. What does this mean for the future? How do I ensure that my argument aligns with my personal vision? No AI model could answer those questions for me.
7.2 Wietse's Call: What Now?
This question applies not only to writers and artists, but to everyone. AI is changing how we work, learn, and even how we think. If we're not careful, we will go from critical thinkers to passive users. The pace of AI development forces us to consider how much control we still want—and can—retain. AI can empower us, but only if we choose to remain in the driver's seat ourselves.
🚀 Will we remain pilots, or will we become passengers in our own creative process?
Wietse Hage called out in the Poki (now AI Report) not merely to complain about AI, but to come up with concrete ideas. I completely agree with him. It is time to not only understand AI, but also actively steer it.
Bronvermelding
📖 Literature and Research
• Research on AI in Dutch Education – Analysis of AI integration in schools, with initiatives such as NOLAI and AI-based learning platforms. (Internal Google Deep Research report, available on request)
• AI Impact Analysis Europe & Netherlands – Study on the impact of AI on work and education in the coming years. OECD & McKinsey
• Scheming AI: Science or Fiction? – Research on strategic decision-making and the risks of 'scheming AI'. (Internal Google Deep Research report, available on request)
• OpenAI Security & Privacy Reports – About AI security and ethical considerations. Read here
🎙 Podcast and Media
• Poki Podcast – "AI Within 3 Years Better Than Humans" (S03E20) – Conversation with Wietse Hage about regulation and ethical dilemmas.
• Wietse Hage’s Four AI Groups – Classification of people based on their attitude towards AI (discussed in the same episode).
🎨 Art and Culture
• The Future of Something – Jonas Lund – Artwork about AI’s influence on authenticity and creativity.
Calculating Empires – Kate Crawford & Vladan Joler – Research on how technology affects power and the economy.
🎬 Films and Series
• The Matrix (1999) – A classic about AI and technological control.
• Ex Machina (2014) – Film about AI ethics and the dangers of superintelligence.
• Black Mirror – Netflix series about the impact of technology on the human psyche.
• H.E.R. (2013) – Exploration of human relationships with AI and emotional implications.
⚖️ Policy Documents and Regulations
• UNESCO AI in Education Report – Report on AI integration in education and ethical issues. Watch here
• The AI Act – European regulation on AI – Guidelines for safe and ethical AI. Read here
🌐 Direct Links to Cited Sources
https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/future-of-work.html
https://trust.openai.com/
https://jonaslund.com/works/the-future-of-something
https://calculatingempires.net/
https://www.unesco.org/en/artificial-intelligence
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/regulatory-framework-ai