The Teammate You Didn’t Know You Were Competing With
I’m not suggesting we all stop using AI. But something about it reminds me of the kind of co-worker who appears to be super helpful whenever a new project appears – full of ideas, enthusiasm, energy. You know the type. But then one day you look over and that new laptop that was supposed to be coming your way is now on her desk. And there’s whisperings of a promotion. For her. The one that was guaranteed for you. And it’s not like she hasn’t done the work. She did it all with gusto. But if you’d realised that there was going to be a price to pay for letting her into your team, you maybe wouldn’t have gone down that road in the first place.
What Begins as Flattery…
Or the annoying little brother who wants to go everywhere with you and you think what harm can it do? So you let him join in with your soccer practice. And then into your friend groups. It’s like he’s trying to learn everything he can about you. It’s kinda flattering. Until one day you walk into a mate’s house and he’s already sitting there with them, right in the middle, as if they don’t need you anymore. I mean why go to the OG when he’s an adequate substitute and anyway, he doesn’t say no when they need someone to go down the shops for more snacks.
What Are You Quietly Giving Away?
There’s always a trade-off.
Which doesn’t mean saying a big fat no to AI; it’s in our lives – it’s been here for longer than we realise and I’m pretty sure it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. It’s just that we could all do with getting clear on what our own trade-off is.
Are we willing to trade our own ideas, inspirations, dreams for the time-saving it offers?
Are we happy to risk a few neural connections further down the line?
Is handing over our creativity worth it?
You see, the thing I’m worried about is that if we don’t get clear on what our trade-off is, we may just wake up one day wondering why a robot called Fred is zipping around our home making all our decisions including how we like our coffee. Not because we asked it to because we can no longer do it for ourselves. And the worst bit is that we don’t even like coffee!
Our Creativity Was Never Meant to Be Outsourced
The thing is, we all arrived on this planet with our creativity intact, with a natural ability to be inspired by our dreams and imagination. It’s what makes us human. There’s a joy that comes from feeling a dream turn into an idea then putting that idea into action. That’s a satisfaction that can’t be replaced. When was the last time you did that? Do you remember how that felt? Maybe you wrote a few lines for a birthday card, or for a presentation or for your social media. Maybe you were inspired to create a new product and began looking at how you could do that, and who you could work with, and how you could make it real. Maybe you went to a new city and felt prompted to explore its side streets only to find a little gallery that had the exact painting that you had been looking for for years. Nothing can truly replace that experience.
It’s time to look at the price we’re willing to pay for AI to be in our daily lives. What’s your trade-off?