What lazy Roman elites can teach us about the AI in the workplace

September 24, 2026 — 4:00pm

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Two thousand years ago Seneca warned us about AI. The ancient Roman philosopher wrote about a wealthy and lazy man who desired to appear worldly and educated, without wanting to do the hard work of studying required to get there.

Instead, he bought and trained slaves to recite lines of poetry and spit out the answers to any questions that he desired. Summoning knowledge from these slaves, he told his friends, was no different to summoning it from his own mind.

The obvious absurdity of this belief was mocked by Seneca, and today you can draw the same dotted line to our relationship with technology.

This story was recounted to me by Ryan Holiday, the author most responsible in recent times for a resurgence in applying historical philosophies to modern problems. His 15 books, like The Daily Stoic and The Obstacle Is The Way, have sold over 10 million........

© The Sydney Morning Herald