Mark Penn: How to save a billion and a half hours

AI is supposed to make our lives easier by taking the drudgery out of everything and yet years into this new future, more time than ever is being wasted with legal nonsense that keeps gumming up the internet. It’s easier than ever to save humanity a billion and a half hours, and it won’t take a single technological breakthrough — just common sense.

The digital gunk was introduced mostly by lawyers and politicians. Every company facing a lawsuit or a fine independently landed on the same defensive move — senseless consent banners and agreement paragraphs. Nobody asked for it. They just appeared on every website, app, and digital interface, forcing everyone to waste time clicking through useless buttons. Over time, regulations have piled up with no end in sight, leading to more buttons, more banners, and more waste.

Now with ChatGPT and Claude integrating into our daily lives, we run the risk of even more waste. Before lawyers start taking out their red pens, here are five fixes we should address to clear the clutter.

To cookie or not to Cookie. Two years ago, you could at least pretend this was a European problem. Now, every site on Earth greets you with a pop-up that takes up your whole phone screen with 15 toggle switches and a “Confirm choices” button. Regulations multiplied, and now consent banners are........

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