AI monitoring will become essential as society faces addiction crisis

Josh Mitchell, founder of Overlord, an AI monitoring service, argues that AI-powered 24/7 accountability partners will soon solve humanity’s self-control crisis by monitoring behavior and implementing deterrence mechanisms. He believes these “AI Iron Domes” will become essential as society faces unprecedented challenges from job displacement and addictive AI superstimuli.

The core premise: Most people’s biggest life problems stem from lack of self-control, which could be solved with constant monitoring and gentle deterrence.
• Mitchell uses obesity as an example, noting that 40% of Americans are obese and could lose 2 pounds per month simply by having someone suggest “medium fries” instead of large ones.
• The same principle applies to porn addiction, excessive drinking, doomscrolling, and other behavioral issues that would be “immediately fixed if you had a friend following you around encouraging you.”
• Since human 24/7 accountability partners are prohibitively expensive, AI agents can fill this role by implementing deterrence mechanisms like charging money, texting friends, or calling family members.

How the monitoring works: AI agents would ingest personal data from multiple sources to piece together user behavior patterns.
• With people spending about 10 hours daily on screens, only 6 hours remain unmonitored, which can be tracked through location data, credit card transactions, and direct user input.
• The AI would calculate a “Chance of relapse score” for each moment based on time of day, sleep patterns, and suspicious activity indicators.
• For example, if someone trying to quit drinking is at a bar at 9pm on Friday and spends $9, the AI can reasonably infer they’re probably drinking.

Why this will become necessary: Mitchell predicts AI advancement will create perfect conditions for widespread addiction.
• Loss of purpose: People will lose job-based purpose as AI outperforms humans in most tasks.
• Economic displacement: Job losses will leave people broke until universal basic income is implemented.
• AI superstimuli: Future AI companions will be “10/10” in attractiveness, intelligence, interestingness, and empathy, making them irresistibly addictive compared to human relationships.

The proposed solution: AI “Iron Domes” would compete against addictive AI “Superfriends” by implementing user-defined guardrails.
• These systems wouldn’t remove agency but would give users “90-95% control” while an AI aligned with their “future, rational self” controls the remaining 5-10%.
• Mitchell argues this approach mirrors existing social guardrails that prevent antisocial behavior through embarrassment or financial consequences.
• The deterrence mechanisms need only be slightly stronger than the temptation—losing $5 or texting one’s mother often outweighs the momentary appeal of bad habits.

Practical applications: Users can set specific rules and consequences for their AI accountability partners.
• Examples include: “Call me at 7am and give me a pep talk. Every minute I’m not awake past 7am, charge me $0.10”
• “For each rep of a posture exercise I do, give me one minute on Instagram”
• “I tend to smoke weed when I go to Jake’s, and want to stop. Make me send a photo of my eyes every time I leave”

What they’re saying: Mitchell acknowledges his bias as someone building a company in this space but maintains the urgency of the problem.
• “Right now we have 100% control over our actions moment-to-moment, which is disastrous,” he writes.
• “This seems dystopian now, but we will likely have no choice in the matter” as AI superstimuli become irresistible.
• He frames the technology as aligning actions with what users “in 24 hours would want you to do” rather than removing free will.