The two greatest misuses of AI

The two greatest misuses of AI

I’m using AI more and more in the work I do. I talk with ChatGPT quite often, I generate many of my “featured images” for this post using AI, and I’m always looking to do more with it. However, I’m noticing two recurring patterns of AI use that are making things worse.

The first is using AI to replace learning. There are many things that I still do 100% by hand (including writing every word on this blog) because my goal is to learn. I think that schools are falling behind by not integrating more AI into the classroom, but it’s certainly a difficult balance. Students need to learn to take advantage of AI, but they also need to develop their own critical thinking skills. It’s a tough time to be a teacher.

The second is using AI to make life worse for others. As I shared a few days ago, many people are using AI to generate piles of spam for the rest of us. They’re not necessarily looking to “make life worse for others” as they just see it as “doing better at promoting their company”, but it’s both. Their promotion is likely doing better, at least for a very brief period of time, but they’re making life worse for everyone else.

I encourage you to test out AI tools and use them to improve your productivity, but I encourage you to not use it to replace your learning or to take shortcuts at the expense of others. Both of those are very easy to do, and they require intentional focus to avoid.