I had a conversation with my friend over the weekend at a Halloween party.

Catching up and discussing the various changes we’ve noticed in our jobs over the last month. I was very thankful I’ve been able to share some of the success of launching this new blog with him! Talking about the post where I got some ofyour stances with AI, he asked me about my stance (which I’m not sure has been clearly communicated to my audience) because he knows I like talking about tech and how crazy this time is! When he asked me, I reflected on the mission of this blog:

I aim to help you get the best direction in your life on what is valuable and precedent in technology so you can be aware and make wise decisions.

My stance definitely cannot be contained to a single blog post and our conversation led to many snack breaks. But when I was chilling with my family over the weekend shoving back Reese’s peanut butter cups I came across a post on Instagram that gave me pause.

I recently started following this account called Sword and Pencil that’s got a pretty interesting art style. Partly because I haven’t tried my hand in art in this way and find artists with this style to be pretty awesome! Check out the full post hereif you’d like but some of the comments made me reflect on some nuances that can’t be shared in a comment section.

1. The internet won’t change and people feel freedom to comment against your dignity regardless if you are big, small, NFL linebacker ray lewis, or some guy mad in a public library. Rhetoric online drives engagement on some platforms, and in many cases, unfortunately.
2. People fight over what they’re passionate about and that’s good and there’s insight we should be willing to glean from what people are willing to be angry about.
3. AI as a tool (yes it is a tool, but not in the functional sense of a hammer) but people conflate its ability to be efficient and effective. It can be very fast! And to some people that’s all they care about because our time is valuable. Is there good in being fast? Yes, but efficiency doesn’t directly mean faster. It means using the right resources at the right time to do things right. Resources could be time but it could also be energy, finances, labor, or capital. Does that sound like AI to you?
4. Comments in this section pushed back because they thought of AI as very efficient and effective to do some tasks that enabled other people to participate in activities they could not do before. Sure, but there was thoughtful pushback from the author that those individuals who use AI now are missing out in the skill building process in their own personal development as a human. In other words, cutting corners in the long run leads to stunted growth. Does AI actually provide a process that accomplishes its intended goal and delivering on the promise?
5. Something can be simply a tool and simply dangerous. Whether it is writing or nuclear energy, tools have the gravity to allow humans to craft or craft what it means to be human, dependent on who is welding them. In the authors biblical worldview, eating the apple was a simple task but it’s also massively consequential. Simple actions can be dangerous as we’ve learned in the last month.

I think the author of this post is right in his defense and any modern professional in the space should consider these realities. I also believe tools have brought about this type of reflection for every generation that has encountered a revolutionary change and it requires our need to evaluate them.

This time however I believe we are conflating these two basic definitions. AI can be “cursed” by human engagement in such a way that it gives people over to their desires that corrupt them. Similar to the smart phone and the internet, and a car, and alcohol, and money, and everything in this world that could be good in proper context. Everything in life has the propensity to give us what we want and promise to be more. But this is where humans have a choice in how we choose to wisely interact with these tools.

And remember in business operations you can rarely be efficient AND effective. It’s usually one or the other. If something promises to do both, it’s luring you into a trap.

Think I was completely off or think there is more to be said? Feel free to let me know in the comments and keep the conversation going by following me on social media.

Till next time, eat some pancakes!