At a recent AI/GPT workshop, I asked participants why (or why not) they use AI tools. One person said he doesn’t use it because he “doesn’t want to get intellectually lazy” to carry out “thinking” tasks he could do by himself.
I get the sentiment, but…
When cars were invented, one could say: “I want to keep riding horses.”
When the calculator became available: “I want to keep doing algebra with an abacus.”
When computers became widespread: “I want to keep using a typewriter.”
When smartphones came out: “I want to keep using a landline and sending letters.”
When the internet became widely accessible: “I want to keep going to the library to research everything manually.”
When streaming services took off: “I want to keep going to the video rental store for movies.”
The point is, resisting new tools may feel like preserving skills, but these innovations often help us to focus on deeper, more complex challenges by freeing up time or effort.
(And feel free to keep riding horses as a sport, buy paperback books instead of ebooks, do mental calculus while shopping, and write handwritten love letters.)
**This was originally posted on Andras Baneth's LinkedIn account.