Oct. 10, 2026

In the last post, I criticized overreliance on AI, especially as a replacement for learning, critical thinking, and/or decision-making.

To recap…

• Argument 1: Offloading too much thinking to AI will make you…um, let’s say less bright.
• Argument 2: AI does not think, so it cannot think for you.

And no, I’m not a Luddite, by the way. I use various forms of AI daily. To me, it’s all about how you are using the tool and for what.

In my view, the right way to use AI is to automate things you already know how to do well (or that you never needed to know how to do anyway).

But I also have a third claim: The increasing ubiquity of AI means you will have to know, understand, and do MORE, not less.

Some people seem to be imagining a world like the Jetsons, where George complains about having to push the button five times that day.

But that’s not what’s going to be expected of employees, at least not in any capitalistic society.

If you use AI effectively, it will multiply your efficiency. Then, eventually, you’ll be expected to complete more and higher-level work.

(We’ve already had different versions of this for a long time. Think back to stories of employees who knew how to automate cumbersome spreadsheet tasks with a bit of coding, eliminating the majority of their workload and allowing them to goof off. What kinds of things happened after the manager found out about it?)

I’m not saying it should or should not be this way; I’m just describing what I think is inevitable.

Efficiency multipliers can only make you lazier and more sedentary at work if no one else knows about them.

(Warning: Everybody knows about AI.)

Consider an example from literature. One of my favorite books is called The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, by Neal Stephenson.

In the book, an impoverished girl discovers a tablet that is basically a genius personalized AI tutor. Without spoiling the story, let’s just say that she goes on to do far more incredible things than she would have done without this technology.

Now, in the real world, imagine that the next generation of children grows up with AI as an individualized tutor. We will obviously expect them to understand more about the world, not less.