Four Horsemen

Full Title and Meme

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are recast as the archetypal forces that ride out against the ordinary human trying to live with dignity in the age of AI. Each “horseman” embodies a structural problem that erodes agency, trust, and autonomy.

The Four Horsemen of the AI Age

1. The White Horse – Illusion (Misinformation & Hype) Rider’s Weapon: A crown of authority, a bow of persuasion.

Force: The flood of AI‑generated misinformation, deepfakes, and hype cycles.

Impact on the Human: Hard to know what is real, what is trustworthy, or what intentions lie behind the glowing promises. The human’s intention is clouded by a fog of illusion.

2. The Red Horse – Displacement (Economic & Social Upheaval) Rider’s Weapon: A great sword of disruption.

Force: Job automation, precarity, and the tearing apart of social contracts.

Impact on the Human: Work, once a source of stability and identity, becomes unstable. Communities fracture under the strain of unequal adaptation. The human’s security is cut down in the clash.

3. The Black Horse – Extraction (Surveillance & Exclusion) Rider’s Weapon: Scales of measurement and commodification.

Force: Every click, glance, and heartbeat turned into data for profit. If some people are not able to afford or to operate within the evolving Digital Public Infrastructure, that their problem, not a social problem.

Impact on the Human: Agency is reduced to metrics. Value is extracted, but dignity is not returned. The human’s attention is weighed and sold, leaving them impoverished in spirit. If your attention is not valued by the kings of the DPI, then there is no point in trying to accommodate you.

4. The Pale Horse – Dependency (Loss of Autonomy) Rider’s Name: Dependency; and behind him follows Obsolescence.

Force: Over‑reliance on opaque AI systems for judgment, memory, and decision.

Impact on the Human: Skills atrophy, critical thought dulls, and the ability to act without the machine fades. The human’s agency is hollowed out, leaving them vulnerable to collapse.

The Human Struggle

Intention: To live, work, and flourish with meaning.

Attention: Hijacked by illusion and extraction.

Agency: Threatened by displacement and dependency.

The four horsemen of the AI age are not divine punishments but design choices and governance failures. They ride because systems are built to maximize profit and control, not to safeguard human dignity.

References

• See the wiki on Common Good for the horseman protecting humankind.