Do you want to know why I’m AI Hesitant™?

Because people use it for things to cheat the hard work of actual accomplishment. This was much more ubiquitous in the early days (you know, all those 2 years ago), but it still happens.

It reminds me of a few things:

1. An otherwise capable 24-year-old is getting lap-band surgery because that seems like the easiest way to lose weight.
2. Using a cheat code or step-by-step guide in a video game, then bragging that you beat it in record time.
3. Looking up Wordle or Connections hints just to keep your streak alive.

About a year after ChatGPT went public, I posted saying that using it to write your book* is like saying you used a car to run a marathon.

• I should note that I mean ChatGPT wrote the book based on your prompts.

Technically speaking, you did something. But you skipped the hard part. The part where you actually work towards an end goal.

And great accomplishments only come with hard work; you can’t put it on autopilot, skip to the end, and reap the rewards.

Living on Autopilot

Recently, someone pitched me on a topic for a podcast:

…help people (not just business owners) put their lives on autopilot.

I responded:

I’d just want to clarify a little more. I’m really focused on helping business owners — particularly who are parents — automate so they can bring more humanity to the important parts of their lives.

That’s where the conversation ended, and I’m glad.

I don’t want to help people put their lives on autopilot.

I want to help people live.

A Dismaying Scene

When I was in Disney World with the family, we had a strict “no screens in the parks” rule. No iPads for the kids. My wife and I only used our phones for communication or the Disney App.

But I observed a dismaying scene: scores of families in queues or at restaurants, all on devices. Strong Axiom Humans from Wall-E vibes.

After I spent too much time wondering why people would spend all of this money to do something at the parks they can do at home for free, it occurred to me that these folks were putting their lives on autopilot.

They were escaping into their phones to kill time. To avoid conversation. To seek entertainment because, God forbid, we’re bored for any amount of time.

Automate to experience life, not live it for you

The problem with putting your life on autopilot is that you run the risk of having life lived for you.

While we were at Disney World, I had lots of conversations with strangers. And so did my kids. We had amazing experiences, they asked interesting questions, and they did things that made them uncomfortable or scared.

They were even…gasp…bored.

No one cares if you drove 26 miles. No one cares if you prompted ChatGPT for a day and got a book out of it.

Doing the hard part makes the successes great. But beyond that, if we stop doing the hard work, we atrophy.

We don’t want to put our lives on autopilot. We want to put the things we shouldn’t be doing anyway on autopilot. The menial tasks. The things we’d hire out.

That allows us to build space to actually live our lives.