> I don’t see how this isn’t a _better_ era for people who want to develop a deep understanding of something.

Same way a phone in your pocket gives you the world's compiled information available in a moment. But that's generally led to loneliness, isolation, social upheaval, polarization, and huge spread of wrong information.

If you can handle the negatives is a big if. Even the smartest of our professional class are addicted to doomscrolling these days. You think they will get the positives of AI use only and avoid the negatives?

You conflated two things. Availability to the world's information did not produce loneliness, etc., that was availability of social networks designed for engagement^Waddiction on that same device that did. You don't need to install FB et all on your phone.