I helped build the architecture of addiction for social media and I see warning labels coming. That's just a start

Kenneth Schlenker is the founder and CEO of Opal (Credit: courtesy of Opal)

We don’t need to fear AI taking our jobs. We need to fear it taking our attention. Social media hooked us. AI is perfecting the addiction. But a movement to reclaim our focus is gaining ground.

I spent my early 20s at Google learning how to hack human attention. I analyzed data to understand exactly how to get people to click, scroll, and stay hooked to YouTube or Google Search. I was good at it. The work was fascinating, using behavioral science and machine learning to predict and influence what billions of people would do next.