We live in an era where creativity is starting to dissipate more and more each day. The Internet is not supposed to be a bland, lifeless environment. It needs to be chaotic. Colorful. Innovative. Real. Most importantly, it needs to be ours. Individuality struggles as it battles against forces such as AI. It's not too late, though. While AI is becoming a powerful threat indeed, we can still challenge it. The fact that you're here, on this very page, indicates that you have not yet forgotten the true purpose of the web. Take a look at any of the millions of sites hosted on Neocities, like mine. Every page, every line of code, every imperfection, all of it should serve as a reminder that the Internet is strictly ours to claim, and we will not give it up without a fight.

There will be people reading this now, rolling their eyes, who know about the consequences of AI yet continue to exploit it. I can’t force you to let it go. I myself have fallen into this trap. I know AI is seemingly integrated into every aspect of our lives, whether we like it or not. Neither of us chose to live during a time where the influence of AI is this prominent. I can only ask that you use it the very least that you can. Don’t make an artificial “mind” come up with ideas for you. Put in the effort. Look within your own thoughts and you will discover that the human brain is more capable than you think. AI was never meant to take over everything for us, but to provide minimal assistance. If you’re going to go ahead and have a robot generate code for you, please, for the love of the Internet, take the time to figure out what’s being laid out in front of you. Have the wired bastard explain it to you, if anything. There’s no guarantee that AI will always be here, but the knowledge that we hold in our competent minds can be passed down from generation to generation. And trust me, it’ll feel so damn good to be able to explain what’s truly your own code.

We need more nerds. We need more geeks. We need more humans. We need you.