At some point last year, I stopped reading half the advertisements in San Francisco. They made me feel crazy, confused, and angry. In most cities, ads sell something you need, but here the words are nonsense: “Your agents need agents!” “Own your inference.” These riddles target a tiny subset of AI insiders. I’ve concluded they’re doing real psychological damage, blanketing our city with the message: There is a conversation happening here, and you are not part of it. They force us to accept meaninglessness, isolating us from one another.

Ads tell us about a city’s shared identity. In Hartford, billboards said, “It’s not that bad!” Here, they’re nihilistic, broadcasting a loss of meaning. Sociologist Seth Abrutyn says AI alienates us from our productivity, and the ads sell that alienation. The feeling of powerlessness is intentional. As Emile Durkheim described, I feel anomie driving home on I-280 past “AI dread?” ads. They train us to blur our eyes, stop noticing the world, and stop participating. Then the city is no longer yours.

This week on “PST with Emily Dreyfuss,” I speak to three people fighting back with jokes, one costing $6,000 a month. But boy, is it worth it.