AI is Like Writing, the Printing Press, Paper, Communications; Computing; the Internet; Smartphones; Social Media and Search

Artificial intelligence is the latest in a long pattern of improvements in knowledge technology that began with permanence (writing), added scale (printing), plus speed (telegraph/internet), then interactivity (social media), and now knowledge creation and understanding (AI). 

All these technologies fundamentally transformed how knowledge is created, stored, and distributed.

Writing meant knowledge could be transmitted across generations, with more permanency. The invention of paper reduced the cost of recording knowledge.

The printing press democratized knowledge by making books affordable and abundant. The telegraph enabled faster long distance sharing of information. The telephone did the same for voice communications. 

Radio and television added richer experiences. The personal computer democratized content creation. 

The internet (1990s) went further, enabling instant global information sharing and two-way communication. Social media democratized content creation; search removed information barriers; smartphones made knowledge retrieval ambient. 

AI now promises another leap: not just distributing existing knowledge, but helping generate, synthesize, and personalize it at scale. It's shifting from "access to information" to "access to reasoning and content creation."

Technology	Approximate Era	Impact on Knowledge Dissemination	Key Transformation
Writing Systems	3200 BCE onwards	Enabled knowledge to persist beyond human memory and oral tradition	From ephemeral to permanent knowledge
Paper	100 CE (China), 1100s (Europe)	Made writing materials cheap and portable compared to papyrus/parchment	Reduced cost of recording knowledge
Printing Press	1440s	Mass production of identical texts; standardization of knowledge	From scarce to abundant information
Telegraph	1830s-1840s	First technology to separate communication from physical transport	Real-time long-distance knowledge transfer
Telephone	1870s-1880s	Enabled direct voice communication across distances	Democratized real-time conversation
Radio	1920s (broadcast era)	One-to-many mass communication without literacy requirement	Audio knowledge broadcasting
Television	1950s (mass adoption)	Added visual dimension to mass communication	Visual learning and shared cultural experiences
Personal Computer	1970s-1980s	Put information processing power in individual hands	Democratized content creation and computation
Internet/World Wide Web	1990s	Global, instant, networked information sharing	From centralized to distributed knowledge
Search Engines	Late 1990s-2000s	Made vast internet information discoverable and accessible	From information access to information retrieval
Social Media	2000s	Enabled mass peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and collective intelligence	From consumption to participation
Smartphones	2007 onwards	Made internet access ubiquitous and mobile	Always-available knowledge in pocket
AI/LLMs	2020s	Automated knowledge synthesis, translation, and personalized explanation	From information access to reasoning assistance

We might argue that “AI is like the printing press” in terms of its ability to enable widespread and cheaper access to knowledge. But AI is also like other innovations that have enabled multi-generational knowledge permanence; speed of retrieval; cost of retrieval; and ability to create.