Today's AI Appreciation Day Feels Weird. Celebrate These Other Made-Up Holidays Instead
Think that sounds ridiculous? Same. But like most things when it comes to AI, today's Appreciation Day is unbelievably stupid, in a way that's totally on brand.
If you've never heard of AI Appreciation Day, don't feel bad. It's not an official US holiday, and its origins are somewhat shady. In 2021, a random LLC crowned July 16 as the holiday while it was promoting a movie about AI. In the following years, AI companies jumped on the trend, posting #AIAppreciationDay posts on social media on July 16. The purpose of this so-called holiday and its fanfare is crystal clear: To convince you that AI is life-changing, earth-shattering, innovative technology worth shelling out your hard-earned cash for. So it's no surprise to see the made-up holiday being celebrated again in 2025.
OpenAI, Google and Meta have devoted literal billions of dollars over the past few years to develop the most advanced AI models. AI is nearly impossible to escape online -- it's in our smartphones, social media feeds and search engines. But does that mean it's worthy of a national day of appreciation?
I'm an AI reporter, and I spend a lot of time thinking about how the tools available to us affect us individually and as a society. It leaves a queasy feeling in my stomach to dedicate a whole day to uplifting generative AI (and ostensibly, the leaders of the companies producing them) when so much of what AI has wrought has been harmful.
I know I'm not alone in this. There are a lot of reasons why you may not feel like celebrating AI. Environmentally, it's a disaster. The data centers that house the servers that power chatbots eat up lots of energy and fresh water, and reports show they often harm the towns they're located in. Writers, artists and creators of all kinds have big concerns about how these AI models are trained on existing, human-generated data. Some have filed lawsuits alleging copyright infringement, with early wins going in the tech companies' favor. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
AI is also a huge worry in the workplace in many fields -- not because chatbots or image generators are actually suitable replacements for any one job, but because AI-enthusiastic bosses see the tech as their newest cost-saving holy grail. Educators are worried that students' use of AI is hindering their development of critical thinking and writing skills that are necessary, not only for work, but also needed just generally for life. We don't have time to go into the potential ramifications of letting error-prone AI into our government services and national defense.
In short, there's good reason why some experts call the whole AI experiment a con. So if you don't feel like wading into the sycophantic waves of wishing your souped-up autocorrect a happy AI Appreciation Day, here are some other holidays you can celebrate on July 16.
David Watsky/CNET
National Hot Dog Day
If I'm going to celebrate a meaningless holiday invented by marketing companies, it's going to be National Hot Dog Day, not AI Appreciation Day. Fire up the grill -- or stovetop, which is truly the best way to cook a hot dog, according to CNET expert David Watsky.
There are a ton of food-related holidays on July 16, including appreciation days for spinach, cherries and corn fritters. You can have a whole feast made of July 16 holiday foods, and I'm positive you can put the recipe together without using ChatGPT. AI-generated recipes can be hit or miss, especially when followed blindly. I can't imagine anything more embarrassing than getting food poisoning because you listened to ChatGPT, frankly (pun intended). And if you're not a wizard in the kitchen, it's also National Personal Chef Day.
Francesco Riccardo Iacomino via Getty Images
National Snake Day
This one I'm less excited about, but I would still rather celebrate snakes than the snake oil salesmen who claim AI is the holy grail, a bulletproof solution to any problem.
Amazon MGM Studios
National Conrad Fisher/The Summer I Turned Pretty Day
OK, I admit it: I made this one up. But the beginning of the final season of Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty TV series adaptation by Prime Video is way, way more exciting than hallucination-prone AI slop. Team Connie Baby forever.
NASA
Real days deserving of commemoration
While I love a made-up holiday that doesn't give me existential dread, it's worth taking a moment to call out two notable historic events that also happened on July 16. First, the Apollo 11 mission launched on July 16, 1969, and four days later, astronaut Neil Armstrong would be the first man to set foot on the moon.
This world-changing scientific feat was accomplished in part because of a computer that ran on 70 watts of power -- the same as an incandescent lightbulb. That's about the same as one single ChatGPT query; OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said one ChatGPT query uses about 0.34 watt-hours, the same as a high-efficiency LED lightbulb uses in a couple of minutes. So you can use the energy equivalent of one lightbulb to send men to the moon in 1969, or one lightbulb today for AI that can't even correctly tell us what year it is. Katy Perry's endlessly mockable Blue Origin space flight certainly used more energy than either of those. And we're supposed to believe this is scientific progress?
The second historical event is the Trinity nuclear test, which was the first nuclear weapon test done by the US military on July 16, 1945, in New Mexico. That's part of why former President Biden proclaimed July 16 to be National Atomic Veterans Day, to remember and honor the veterans who "not only courageously served our country but also participated in the nuclear tests done between 1945 and 1962 or were exposed to radioactive materials." Recognizing the consequences of what was innovative technology at the time did to real humans is certainly something AI enthusiasts could stand to do more of.
AI Appreciation Day is a chance to reset
I love a made-up marketing holiday as much as the next girl, but there's no denying AI Appreciation Day feels weird. But while I would rather hire a personal chef to make me a hot dog feast while watching The Summer I Turned Pretty, there is some merit to having a day dedicated to AI.
Like all holidays, we can treat today as a time for us to stop and take a moment to think. Generative AI has undoubtedly affected our lives, but that doesn't mean it's been in a positive way. What role do we want AI to play in our future? How do we rectify the damage that's already been done? Those are questions worth asking.
I'm not going to fall over myself making sure ChatGPT knows it's loved -- I asked, and it says it feels appreciated every time I use it. Go figure. But I will use this day to reset and remind myself of all the very real consequences of AI. You should, too.
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