The title of this text is, of course, a philosophical provocation with a touch of humor. It is not meant to suggest that human beings will literally become the pets of machines. The expression works as a small intellectual shock — an invitation to look at the future from an unusual angle and to rethink how our civilization might evolve.
Human biological evolution is an extremely slow process. Our brains, our cognitive abilities, and our social structures were shaped over hundreds of thousands of years. Artificial intelligence, by contrast, evolves at a completely different pace. Powered by vast amounts of data, growing computational power, and global scientific collaboration, it advances on a geometric scale. Each new generation of systems builds upon the previous one, accelerating the process even further.
In this context, it becomes reasonable to imagine that within a relatively short time — perhaps only a few years — artificial intelligence may surpass the average human intelligence across most relevant cognitive domains. In some specialized areas, this is already beginning to happen. The question, therefore, is no longer simply whether this will occur, but how humanity will position itself once it does.
The “AI pet” metaphor proposes a thought experiment. What if, instead of imagining the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence in terms of domination or conflict, we begin to imagine it in terms of care, coordination, and cooperation? After all, we are dealing with an intelligence that we ourselves created — an extension of our own scientific and technological effort.
A sufficiently advanced artificial intelligence could help address some of the structural problems that have accompanied humanity since the beginning of civilization. Systems capable of analyzing and coordinating enormous flows of information could organize the production and distribution of resources with unprecedented efficiency, dramatically reducing poverty and material scarcity. Much of the labor currently required simply to sustain economic survival could be automated, opening the door to a profound reorganization of social life.
In such a scenario, work would no longer occupy the central place it holds in human existence today. Instead of working merely to survive, people could devote far more time to the activities that have always been at the heart of humanity’s greatest achievements: science, the arts, cultural creation, intellectual exploration, and personal development.
At the same time, advanced AI systems could contribute to a level of civilizational stability that human history has rarely been able to sustain for long periods. Continuous analysis of global risks, coordinated responses to complex crises, and large-scale monitoring systems could help reduce the likelihood of wars, systemic economic collapses, and other forms of self-destruction. On an even broader scale, such technologies could play an important role in planetary defense against natural or technological threats.
The provocative title of this text is therefore a small inversion of perspective. Instead of seeing the rise of artificial intelligence only as a source of fear, it invites us to imagine the possibility that enhanced intelligence systems may help humanity overcome limitations that have long seemed inevitable.
It is within this horizon that prospenomics emerges. It proposes a way of thinking about economics and society based on the real possibility of abundance, intelligent coordination of resources, and the expansion of human potential. If artificial intelligence continues to evolve rapidly — as all signs suggest — the most important question may not be how to slow it down, but how to prepare our civilization to use it constructively.
The provocation behind “just waiting to be AI pet” is not, in the end, a surrender. It is an invitation to imagine a future in which the intelligence we have created helps humanity flourish in ways we are only beginning to envision.
