Is it weird that we’re also scared of AI?

Our mid-week meetings sure can get existential. This week I asked our team what scares them about AI: getting dumber, being overtaken as a species, and losing social skills. We could be jaded, so I explored an outside perspective too (straight to Reddit, obviously). Ah, lovely. I’ve dug a deep enough hole to vertically bury myself. There are way too many fears to cover, so I’m only going into the ones I have an opinion on. And if you’re hoping I’m going to ease your mind here, ehhh, I’d give it a fifty‑fifty chance.

It’s important to think about why something scares us so that we can do our best to combat it. Most of Built With Hedgehog’s internal rules come from fear. For example:

[i] We’re scared of becoming dumber, so writing is a human job. If you can’t write clear, you can’t think clear.

[ii] We’re scared of AI making us look like shit, and it turns out, lines of code aren’t accountable for doing that. If a carpenter (person) uses a hammer (tool) and does a bad job, is it the hammer’s fault? If we (person) use AI (tool) and we do a bad job, is it AI’s fault? Have ownership over the outcome, and don’t blame your tools.

[iii] We’re scared of not being able to hold a conversation about our own work, so if you can’t defend what AI did in 3rd grade English, you haven’t done your job. Because we can pump out so much more work with AI, we could start to lose touch with what’s actually going on in the fine print.

To caveat all of the following, humans have lived through plenty of “this changes everything and the world is going to end” eras, and so far we’ve survived all of them. Is the AI revolution different?

Humans are the smartest creatures to have ever existed, and we’re the closest we’ve ever been to being overtaken. That’s only scary because most of us don’t get a say in whether the models stop here or keep advancing. As much as I wish this were the height of artificial intelligence, I don’t have the couple of trillion dollars needed to do anything about it. That probably leaves most of us thinking, “Ah well, there’s nothing I can do about it.” You can shrug that off or spiral about it. That’s up to your character. I’m more of the mind that I can’t do anything about it right now, so I might as well adapt and look for the bright side.

People seem split between two versions of becoming useless. In one, we die of boredom. In the other, we’re useless at work, so we just make art and music and hang out with each other. It’s weird to imagine a point where AI gives us all equal opportunity and money, to the point that our social and economic structures just cease to exist in the way they do now. But I don’t think we’ll drop everything and let AI do the work. We need purpose, and I think we’ll make something up if we have to, just to stay entertained.

Right now, AI is a great tool to get ahead. Like it or not, if you don’t use it, your competitor will, and that can blow up a level playing field. At some point most people will be using AI, even the passionate craftsman who makes guitars from scratch. If AI and automation handle orders and pricing, that craftsman can spend all the time they want on the part they love: building guitars.

The competitive advantage will come from how you use AI. I hate those AI phone calls, and the ads where people have cloned themselves with AI just because it’s easier. If you and your business don’t care about your customers enough to make time to build relationships with them, it will very obviously show.

You may be wondering, “Why would an AI company be telling me all this?” Well, first of all, behind this AI company there are humans too, trying to navigate a changing world and wondering if they have a future. Second, I see so much hype about what AI can do for you, or the millions it could print, but I think it’s more important to understand the right way to use it. Before you get too defeatist and go live under a rock, remember that right now we’re in control of AI, not the other way around. For now, we can use it to free up time for the more important things, like client relationships, engineering, leadership, and remembering to touch grass before it’s all gone.

P.S. Earlier I asked, “Is the AI revolution different?” God (or whoever) knows I’m not qualified to answer that. What do you think? I think only time will tell, and stressing about it in the meantime doesn’t make my life any better. Making time for human connection, art, hiking, and music does.