AI Isn’t a Magic Trick — It’s a Tool
AI may be the most revolutionary, utilitarian tool at our disposal since we humans harnessed the power of fire or created the wheel. And framing it that way, as a tool, may be the biggest unlock toward fully unleashing its power. It isn’t a magic trick. It isn’t a sentient being (not yet, anyway). It doesn’t “know” anything. It isn’t “smarter” than you. Fearing it is futile. Letting it lead is foolhardy. AI is YOUR tool.
As historian Yuval Noah Harari points out in his latest book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, we humans aren’t always the best at using our tools to maximum effect. When I truly started understanding AI as a tool I can deploy, I quickly uncovered a few key principles to help guide me with creativity and curiosity on my journey toward weaving it into my work.
Humans > AI. Really, this is the big one, the only one you actually need. The remaining principles listed here just drill down into the layers below it. We as humans are in control of what we get and what we take from AI. I recently attended an AI for Enterprise panel discussion, and a common theme went something like this: AI will always give you an answer. Whatever you put in, you will get what you ask for. But the quality of the output is far from guaranteed. Furthermore, whether you actually use the output is totally up to you.
Don’t ask “Can AI do it?” Instead: Identify the problem, and thoughtfully investigate IF AI can be part of a smart solution. As with all shiny new technologies and capabilities, leaders often jump in with both feet to be the first to make a big splash. The trick is to start by asking the right questions, such as: What problem are we trying to solve? Is AI the right tool to help? If yes, how could we thoughtfully deploy it?
Keep humans in the loop. AI is fast and convincingly capable, like a super-confident intern. But sometimes the output seems way better than it actually is. In different areas, the human role will look different – but it’s always essential. In some cases, oversight is what’s needed. Like when a client brings his financial advisor a “will” AI created for him that’s actually a trust. Or when your AI research assistant hallucinates a source. And my personal favorite – when your AI writes something vanilla-bland that calls out for a very human editor’s spicy touch.
Be playful and creative. Don’t forget that AI is an endless playground that’s as big as your own imagination. Approach it with a spirit of play, leaving time to experiment, to see how things go wrong and where they’re oh-so-right. Make space for wonder and surprise.
Stay connected with other humans. Finding out how friends and connections are utilizing AI IRL has been an unexpected joy. Share what you’ve learned with someone else—and listen to what they’ve tried. I have uncovered so much I didn’t know by simply talking to others about their AI usage.
Plan and deploy AI usage WITH those actually doing the work. Leaders, this one is especially for you. Employees in the trenches have something you don’t, and that’s ok—it’s actually a boon. They know how things really work, at scale. Leaders are removed from the daily grind, as they should be. But that means they don’t have a realistic grasp on what it’s like to deliver all the deliverables. Please don’t design an AI process in a fishbowl and then try to deploy it. This rigid process application assumes a “kind” world, to use terminology outlined in David Epstein’s book, Range. Modern work is “wicked,” meaning it’s complex, interwoven and constantly changeable. In this reality, guidelines are more effective than rules. Goals and objectives magnitudes more helpful than mandatory steps. Involve those closest to the work in creating and sharing guiding principles or ways of working. Then leave the details to the individuals. AI is not a closed, clear universe of “best practices.” It’s a complex domain where flexibility wins the day.
Start Using AI Now – Your Job Depends on It
AI is changing work. This is an unchangeable fact. You don’t have the luxury of pretending AI is not in your toolbox. We must all learn to work with it, to incorporate it into our processes, to harness its power and direct it.
It can be tempting to see chatbots mainly as fancy search engines, or to highlight their deficits and how humans produce superior outputs. But we must pay attention to what they can actually do. In their column in Axios on May 28, 2025, titled “Behind the Curtain: A white-collar bloodbath,” Jim VanderHei and Mike Allen write, “[AI chatbots are] fantastic at summarizing, brainstorming, reading documents, reviewing legal contracts and delivering specific (and eerily accurate interpretations of medical symptoms and health records.”
AI Is Taking Jobs Now
Already now, there are AI agents that can do the work of humans, “instantly, indefinitely and exponentially cheaper,” as VanderHei and Allen put it. Currently, AI models are mainly being used for augmentation, to superpower how people perform their daily work. But the balance is tipping, and will continue to tip more and more toward automation. Specifically that means it is and will be increasingly actually doing your job. “It’s going to happen in a small amount of time—as little as a couple of years or less,” warns Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, maker of Claude.ai.
Amodei has begun to sound the alarm bells about the impact the very technology he’s creating and promoting will have on the job market. Which is, to put it bluntly, cataclysmic. Here’s a future Amodei predicts: “AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs – and spike unemployment to 10-20% in the next one to five years.”
It’s important to stress, this is already happening. Companies are trimming their workforce in favor of staffing up with AI. Earlier this year, Meta announced plans to shrink its workforce by 5%. Microsoft is laying off 6,000 workers (3% of the company), many of them engineers.
Prepare for the Future in Your Present
No one truly knows exactly what will happen when the full power of AI is realized in the workplace. Best case scenario, more jobs will be created, new positions that will arise as things unfold. So far, this has been the pattern when new technologies bloom. However, this time could well be different. This technology is vastly unlike a robot on an assembly line or even a personal computer.
The only thing we can do is to jump into AI with both feet, adapt to its presence and constantly evolve our skills and training to maintain our relevance. And if we’re parents, we need to ensure we’re raising kids who can read deeply, think critically, question everything with curiosity and creativity. Their professional lives will look vastly different from ours. The roles most impacted by AI early on are predicted to be entry level positions, the ones we used to start with when entering the job force. We’ll need to be creative and innovative – and hopeful – in envisioning new paths into work.
Smart Policies Can Help
Increasingly, tech leaders are signaling to the government that policies around AI are vital in guiding our country through this lightning-fast-paced revolution. Remember that, too, as you vote in upcoming elections. This change is here and will only accelerate, and the time for all of us to take action is right now.
“You can’t just step in front of the train and stop it,” Amodei warns. “The only move that’s going to work is steering the train—steer it 10 degrees in a different direction from where it was going. That can be done. That’s possible, but we have to do it now,” he says.
The question for you: How can you steer your way of working those few precious degrees in a new direction? Challenge yourself to think with AI in every way you can.
Craving more on AI?
Check out my post about what happens when AI is too sweet, which also includes a reference to Humans > than AI. It’s becoming a refrain…
You may also find some useful tidbits in my post 8 Reasons Sharp Editing Is a Required Skill in the Age of AI. Which naturally also contains a subhead titled Humans > than AI. Go figure.
