Tech Explained: Keeping an AI on the Future in the Age of Hype and Tech in Simple Terms

Every age thinks it has found the password to the Future. Its occupants flaunt it with the chutzpah of chimpanzees, at conferences, seminars while aggressively wolfing down curated trays of canapés. The new future has been AI-ing for some time now. No article, party conversation, proud podcast, keynote address, TED talk, government policy paper or a startup pitch deck is perfect sans the ‘AI’ word. Generative AI is cocktail garnish like the cilantro on Indian food when the chef is just showing off. As of early 2026, ChatGPT had generated in excess of 618 million searches on a monthly basis across the globe, and was one of the most searched terms in the planet. Its competitors—Gemini, DeepSeek, Perplexity—are not far behind.

Artificial Intelligence is not just a technology story today; it is a social performance—politicians invoking it to seem contemporary: think AI Summits mushrooming internationally, CEOs invoking it to thrill investors and pitchers, journalists scattering it in copy to avoid writing about infrastructure or public health. This is not the first time the world has been high on a trending idea. History is littered with obsessions of yesterday. Not long ago, it was ‘sustainability’. Oil companies suddenly loved windmills, airlines saved the earth with compostable spoons and luxury hotel chains were asking guests to reuse towels in an effort to save the Himalayan glacier system. The term showed up everywhere like ghosts in a movie: in annual reports, on shampoo bottles, and in real estate brochures. The mega fossil fuel companies were charged by Greta Thunberg plait-alikes with “greenwashing”. Until Gaza came along.