You Didn’t Ask for AI!

The AI boom is running on a strategy older than it seems.

Every time you see an AI button where it doesn’t belong, you’re not looking at the future. You’re looking at a strategy that’s over a hundred years old. One that once brought toasters and dishwashers into our homes before we truly needed them.

Hi, I’m Diya Murra. I’m a Narrative Entrepreneur. I look at the world through stories, patterns, and the frameworks behind why things show up in our lives.

Let’s talk about what’s happening with AI right now.

The Features That Nobody Requested

You open Instagram, and a reel is auto-translated. The tone and emotion of the original language disappear.

You open WhatsApp, and your messages are summarized for you, as if talking to friends is now a task that needs optimization.

These features feel intrusive because they are intrusive.

And they are not here by accident.

The Dishwasher Was Never About Dishwashers

In the early 20th century, electric companies had a problem called load factor. People used electricity mostly at night for lighting. During the day, power plants sat idle, and idle infrastructure is expensive.

The dishwasher came in and landed as a middle-ground appliance. Helpful, but not essential. People had washed dishes by hand for generations and survived just fine.

Yet dishwashers were sold as symbols of modern living. Cleanliness. Efficiency. Status.

The Toaster Followed the Same Logic

Not because households were desperate for better toast, but because the grid needed daytime usage, they introduced appliances like the toaster.

The toaster was convenient, sure. But convenience was the story, not the reason.

Under the surface, they served another purpose. A steady draw of electricity during the day. Another reason to keep the system running.

Not useless. Not essential. Perfect for manufactured demand.

AI Is Running the Same Playbook

Fast forward to today.

AI companies have built massive infrastructure. Data centers. Chips. Energy hungry systems that need constant usage to justify their cost.

Organic demand is real but limited. Summarizing documents. Writing code. Generating drafts. Useful, but not enough to keep the lights on.

So AI is being pushed into everything. Messaging apps. Social platforms. Design tools. Places where it was never asked for.

Not because your life demanded it. Because the business model does.

From Tools to Territory

Software used to behave like tools. You picked them up when needed. You put them away when you were done.

AI does not want to wait. It wants to live inside your digital spaces. Reading. Writing. Speaking. Deciding.

This is not neutral. This is digital colonialism.

When software becomes territory, control shifts. And for those of us in the global majority, that shift matters.

Culture Is Not a Feature

If we let AI train on Western media, Western values, Western priorities, and then embed that logic into our local platforms, we are giving up cultural control.

If your voice, your language, your values don’t show up in the dataset, they won’t show up in the output.

That’s not innovation. That’s erasure.

Do not confuse presence with value. Do not confuse features with progress. And do not let someone else’s infrastructure problem redefine your habits.

Yes, meaningful innovation is quiet. AI detecting breast cancer early. AI supporting wildlife conservation. Focused use. Clear purpose.

What we are seeing now is loud. Everywhere. Searching for justification.

The best tools are invisible. The best technology respects context.

And the best stories? They don’t interrupt you. They invite you in.

Credit to Syed Faizan for inspiring this blog. (IG: @telephonepyar)

Diya | ضياء

P.S. I saw this post:

"The tech investor dropped us because I speak for Palestine." - Tech Startup - [link]

This prompted me to do something. I want to help startups find growth, whether it be in marketing that leads to revenue or clear communications that lead to finding the right investors.
Only when we stick together, we can achieve the true potential of the Arab world. 
This blog is here to help startups. May it find the right people and help them. 

From the river to the sea. 
Justice and Peace. 

P.P.S. Marketing Isn’t the Problem… Clarity Is.
Drop me an email or click “Let’s Talk” below. I’ll sit with you for 1 hour to simplify your marketing and help you build trust, turning your bank account into a money magnet.