AI Is Changing Society – But Not In The Way You Think It Is

AI has changed the way the world works. What used to take a team of 5 can now be done by one person. What used to take 5 hours can now be done in 10 minutes. This all sounds great – but there are two very clear camps of people when it comes to AI injecting itself into our society. 

There are those who are excited about it, and those who are afraid of it. But then there’s another camp, one that I’m a part of – those who live somewhere in the middle – those who are aware of the threats, but are also excited about the tools that improve their workflows and unleash a whole new level of creative problem solving. 

I can’t help but feel some disdain over the endless possibilities of the damage AI can do to our society. Artificial General Intelligence can be a very real concern for many, however what’s the point in trying to control that concern? Isn’t it similar to worrying about someone breaking into your house? Or the worries we had around the Y2K bug in the year 2000? 

I also can’t help but use these tools every day. They make me more efficient, more creative and free up more time for the things I actually want to be focused on. I personally use it every day and it improves my workflow in certain areas of my business. It helps me with idea generation, graphic design and other grunt work that I don’t have the time for or any interest in doing. 

All this to say – AI is affecting us in a way that I don’t think anyone expected, so let’s get into it. 

In essence, at least for me, the existence of AI technologies is actually exposing a truth that was otherwise invisible before its growth in popularity, simply because of a lack of comparison. 

The talent and creativity of human beings always existed in a vacuum. We would simply compare ourselves against each other. But now, when you can have a blog like this written in a matter of seconds (I’m writing this by the way, not Claude) or you can have an image generated in ChatGPT that looks good enough to use for advertising, or a piece of art made by one of the other endless tools available to us, it all becomes a little bit lack luster. 

It becomes something like “so what? I’ll look at it because it’s cool that it was made so quickly, but where’s the deeper meaning? Why should I actually care? What’s the story?”

You see, the real effect AI is having on us as humans is in its illumination of just how amazing human beings are. It’s wild to me that someone can sit down in a field with a canvas, some brushes and paint, and create a work of art that makes you want to actually look at it for 10 minutes. You can’t help but wonder “how did they do that?” 

It’s amazing that a filmmaker can build out a story entirely in his head, script it, storyboard it, and create something that strikes an emotional chord with the people who watch it. It’s amazing that 5 people can sit down with instruments, and piece together a collection of chords, beats and melodies that can get someone through a bad day. 

At its core, AI is lowering the value of dull, menial tasks like data management and simple decision making and increasing the value of deeper thinking, complex problem solving and art in any form. It’s cool to be able to have something created at the touch of a button. It’s impressive to possess the patience and persistence to be able to do it by hand. This is simply the natural evolution of society – let me explain. 

Everyone can agree that a 4 door 1957 Chevy is far more valuable than a 4 door 2026 Chevy. But why is that? Is it because they’re more rare? Is it just nostalgia? Well, it actually goes a lot deeper than that. A car from the 50s is simply art. You want to spend time with it, look at it from all angles. You marvel at the beauty of the object. 

When you think of the period in time in which it was created, you can’t help but wonder “how were they able to do that? How could they make something so beautiful back in the 50s?” 

There were no robots, no laser cutting technology, and the assembly line was still in its infancy. The craftspeople who designed and built those cars had nowhere near the same amount of technology we have access to today. Yet, there it is – far superior to anything we can imagine and create in the 21st century. 

This notion expands far beyond the automotive industry as well. Let’s also consider houses for a moment. A century home is the purest form of art. It was built with craftsmanship and an attention to detail that seems to have evaded modern builders. The average home today is a series of boxes, slapped together haphazardly with chip board and MDF – almost as though they were designed to start falling apart within 5 years of being built. 

Why is that? Where did we lose our good taste? I feel that deep down, we’re all selfish. If we’re participating in capitalism, we all want things to be as good as they can be for as cheap as they can be – and technology makes that possible. AI is that notion on steroids. 

So what does this mean for society? I’m sure you’ve seen all the articles and video titles: “adapt now or be left behind,” “learn AI now or become useless.” Is this actually true? Do we have to use AI? Well the short answer is that you’d be foolish to not use AI. But, here’s the long answer. 

At the risk of sounding cliche, I’m going to quote Spiderman. “With great power comes great responsibility.” Every human on the planet has complete access to these tools. We can use them for whatever we want, and within them is embedded all of the knowledge that has ever existed. 

But in saying that – did The Beatles become great because they asked AI to write all of their songs? No. They became great because they put in their 10,000 hours – and they truly lived. What about Frank Lloyd Wright? Did he have AI design his buildings? Nope. There’s another 10,000 hours. 

So what I suggest to you is simple. Get your 10,000 hours. But use AI to help you make it 100,000 hours. The people who come out winning over the next few years are going to be the ones who lean into their natural interests and skills, and use AI to supplement those pursuits, assisting them like Jarvis in Iron Man.      

Everyone should be using AI for something. There are a number of things you hate doing, but you simply need to do – and you have access to all the tools you need to help you with these time consuming tasks. I love taking photos and color grading them. I love writing, filming and editing videos. I love creating and building things. I love talking about marketing and having sales conversations. 

These are tasks that AI will never take away from me. But writing 6 blogs for clients every month? AI helps my business with that. Writing 12 social posts with hashtags per week for clients? AI helps with that. Scraping Google and looking for possible business owners to connect with? AI helps with that. AI is the cheapest assistant you could ever have access to. It’s almost free. 

The ones who win over the next few years are the ones who capitalize on this cheap labour, but who also find a way to maintain the moral compass that keeps them focused on their most important work – and to be the ones who actually do that work. 

I’m currently in the process of switching my workflow over from ChatGPT to Claude. If you aren’t familiar, Claude was built by the company Anthropic – started by the man who left OpenAI because he didn’t like the direction the company was heading in. 

It has software connectors you can integrate right into your chats, so you can actually collaborate with the AI to do more complex work. What I find the most interesting is that its responses don’t build you up like ChatGPT’s do. It doesn’t tell you that your new business idea that’s actually full of holes is the best idea ever. It gives it to you straight and asks plenty of questions to get a thorough understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish. 

The point of sharing my journey with AI is this: When you’re using the tools, go by what feels right – don’t lose your humanity. If you’re starting to have a conversation with someone, and you don’t like them, you would end the conversation and walk away. 

If you don’t like the interactions you’re having with ChatGPT, try Claude. If you don’t like working with Claude, try Gemini. AI can do amazing things, and we’re truly just at the beginning of what’s possible with these technologies. 

But never forget this one truth – AI is making humans more valuable than ever before. Never in the history of mankind has there been something that has actually made us question our worth. 

As we move through the next few years of accelerated change and innovation – keep stock of your interests and your natural skills, and lean in harder than ever before.

If you’re afraid of AI, sign up for some of the free versions of these softwares, and try to understand what you’re so afraid of. If you love AI and you’re using it for everything from creating images to asking for relationship advice, try your best to dial it back. Too much of anything will kill you – and the overuse of AI will kill your creativity, your free will and your happiness. 

The next several years will be interesting to say the least. So be aware, pay attention – and enjoy the process, as it helps you understand more and more what it really means to be human.

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All The Best,

Jay Ashcroft