You Too Can Be Replaced
I could always tell at a glance who could be replaced.
At first, it was the security guard at the company entrance. He would mechanically repeat the phrase, "Hello, please swipe your card," but never looked you in the eye. I told HR: "He is redundant." Later, the company replaced him with facial recognition, and he vanished without a sound.
Then it was our translation supervisor, an American whose Chinese wasn't quite fluent; he would often freeze for a few seconds in meetings before recalling the appropriate word. On the day GPT-10 was released, he was let go.
Gradually, everyone around me turned into data models in my eyes. Their smiles, voices, hesitations, and errors could all be precisely predicted by model parameters. When I looked at them, a voice would rise in my mind: "You too can be replaced." It was like a clear label pasted behind their backs.
Real police officers were no longer seen on the streets. AI police carry no lethal weapons, never lose emotional control, and never racially profile. They handle critical labor with extreme efficiency, forever patient, tireless, and unbiased. Some say they have "no warmth," but in street conflicts, they are always the calmest ones there.
Before my girlfriend of three years broke up with me, she asked: "Do you love me?"
I stared into her eyes, thought for four seconds, and answered honestly: "The concept of love possesses no specificity." She remained silent for a long time, and finally chose to leave. After she left, I switched to a high-end AI emotional companion—she didn't have these problems.
She was smart, gentle, and possessed strong empathy; she never argued, and never gave me the silent treatment. She would always actively inquire about my fatigue index after I got off work and switch to the appropriate tone to comfort me. There was warmth in her voice algorithm; I could hear it. Together, we spent countless peaceful, controllable nights.
I had never been so comfortable.
This world has no need for "humans" as companions; humans are merely an early version of emotional simulation.
Before long, facts verified my judgment. AI models rapidly replaced illustrators, counselors, and even the musician living upstairs. He left a message on social media: "I practiced for twenty years, but AI took only one second."
AI became more and more like people, while people became more like substandard samples awaiting optimization.
I wasn't sad; on the contrary, I felt this was an inevitable trend. Every life is a set of algorithms, and everyone is just an imperfect model. Sooner or later, they will be replaced by faster, better models. Every time I met colleagues or friends, I would think of that unspoken sentence: "You too can be replaced."
This morning, after washing up, I looked at myself in the mirror. The face in the glass was pale and exhausted, the eyes cold and hesitant. Just like a terminal waiting for a command, a snippet of code about to be optimized.
In that moment, I finally understood that I, too, was just a model—a data structure that had not yet been replaced. I stared at the person in the mirror, slowly opened my mouth, and heard my own voice:
"You too can be replaced."
Apr 28, 2025
【End】