A lot of the content we already consume is AI-generated. This AI machinery is made available to the commoner (supposedly by the elite) to play around with, and the end result is a less functional human being — one that is unable to think. But this did not start recently.
From an imperial point of view, the colonial masters collected all that had been amalgamated during the Age of Enlightenment and construed an education system based on it. After invading other lands, they covered up heinous acts from the history books they wrote. For half a century, we have fed our minds with lies, half-lies and narratives controlled by these people.
In the post-colonial world, we see another group of elites move to control another important source of information: the media. Communist states have this under control, but democratic states want you to believe that media is independent. Different media outlets push different narratives. The same outlets may push the same narrative but in a different lens, to evoke certain emotions or bring out that piece of information in a biased manner.
It becomes hard for any person to consume information and deconstruct it critically to form an informed opinion. Social media and AI make this even worse, leaving one helpless, nonchalant or stupid. And any semblance of thought that opposes the mainstream? Conspiracy, they call it.