Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transformational and consequential for human work, life, and play. Like a virus, AI’s growth and reach has affected every facet of human life and its impact will only grow further beyond the point in time when this entry is being written (January 2025). The reach is pervasive and hidden in our everyday interactions with businesses, friends, family, and coworkers. Its use is so utilitarian and access so pervasive that it affects how we think and interact with our AI augmented environment. Like air, it is everywhere and people accept it as if they are breathing. I recognize I am at risk of being a curmudgeon by writing this article, but read on and see for yourself.
AI is such a part of our fabric that I cannot reasonably pledge to never use it in the creation of this blog. Every online word editing software has some elements of assistance to users; spell check, grammar reviews, suggestions, etc. Additionally, the software itself very likely has or will be created, edited, reviewed, or managed via AI capabilities. The originators of the software MUST adopt AI as a fundamental capability or they will be beaten by competitors and no longer exist.
Assumptions about AI
- Assume every touch point you have with a business has AI’s influence; some more than others. AI use will be to improve your experience with the business’s product (in some cases you (Link to If it is free you are the product) and to improve the business’s financial performance.
- When AI is routinely used to replace a human cognitive task, the human that no longer performs that task may never perform it again (We are Embracing the Death of Ability). Without performance, the ability to produce this task decays at a rate dictated by ability and time since last performance. The best example is exercise, if you have not run a mile in a year, running a mile today will be much more difficult than if you had practiced within the previous year.
- When AI is used to introduce a capability to a human which never had the cognitive ability to perform before, that human will never develop the cognitive ability to self serve that capability. The easiest example is determining how to navigate to a location. For digital natives, you open the phone and let it tell you where to go. For many of us, cough older people, that is what we do now as well. However, only 20+ short years ago, everyone had to ask for directions, use a map to determine their route, and pay attention to street signs. As a society we have become dependent on phone mapping for navigation and less capable as humans for it.
Confirmation Tests of my Assertions:
- Don’t believe me, look at the stock market for AI’s growth potential impact to company valuations
- Find a map in your house…one isn’t there
- Ask a friend over 40 how to get somewhere, then a 20 year old. What is different about their responses?
My Pledge to You:
This site’s content will be originated from a human’s brain and recorded onto a blank document via document editing software. The things that matter, thoughtful insight for human use in improving our Agency, will come from a human, to humans, for human benefit. By taking the Path of Resistance, i’ll grow my writing abilities and remain authentic to you, the Agents.