My Definitive Thoughts on AI (Hopefully This Ages Well)

AI is here.

We all know that.

And it is going to work its way into almost everything.

Is that good? Is that bad?

My personal feeling is that we are asking the wrong question.

The better question is: How are we going to use it?

We Have Been Here Before

Every major technology comes with huge promises and huge fears.

The internet was going to change everything. In many ways, it did.

But it did not make everything that came before it useless. It changed how we worked, how we talked, how we bought things, and how we ran businesses.

AI feels similar to me.

There is incredible power here. There are also a million ways to create complete garbage with it.

The silver lining is somewhere in the middle.

The People Who Use AI the Most and Least

A colleague of mine, Brett Robles, made an observation that has been living rent-free in my head.

He came to me one day and said:

“Christian, have you ever noticed that the people who use AI the most and the people who use AI the least both think it’s going to take over the world?”

We laughed because we both knew exactly what he meant.

The more I use AI, the less I think about it as some magic machine that is going to do everything for me.

It is a tool.

And AI is only as good as the person using it.

You Still Have to Be the Manager

Imagine you need to write a presidential speech that millions of people are going to hear.

Would you hand the entire thing to an intern and say, “Figure it out”?

Would you put it on television without reading it first?

Of course not.

Some things are too important.

Your marketing should be treated the same way.

Every ad, video, email, graphic, and website page represents your business. These are the things your customers actually see.

You need to be intentional about them.

AI does not remove that responsibility.

If anything, it gives you more to manage.

AI Lowers the Barrier to Entry

AI is going to make a lot of things easier.

A business owner can now do some graphic design. They can write copy. They can edit photos. They can research ideas. They can do work that once required several different people.

That lowers the barrier to entry.

But there is something very important that comes with that:

The barrier to entry gets lower. The bar gets higher.

We have already watched this happen before.

Look at YouTube.

In the early days of online video, suddenly almost anyone could make something and put it in front of the world. You did not need a television network or a giant production company.

The barrier to entry collapsed.

But look at YouTube now.

The quality has gone up tremendously. If you want to make a great YouTube video that reaches millions of people, you may need great writing, editing, lighting, sound, graphics, thumbnails, storytelling, pacing, and a dozen other things.

The technology made it easier for everyone to participate.

Then everyone got better.

If It Takes You Two Seconds, It Takes Everyone Two Seconds

This is what I think people miss about AI.

If AI allows you to make something in two seconds, it probably allows everyone else to make that same thing in two seconds.

That is not your advantage.

Your advantage comes from asking: How do I go the extra mile?

Maybe AI saves you two hours on something that used to take four.

Great.

Do not automatically use those two hours to make something cheaper and faster.

Use them to make something better.

Spend more time on the idea. Make another version. Fix the details. Try something more ambitious. Put more thought into the final product.

You may end up spending the same amount of time you did before.

The difference is that now you have a much better product at the end of it.

That is the value of AI.

AI Will Consolidate Jobs

I do think this will change jobs.

Some jobs will disappear. Others will get combined.

A business owner may become a little bit of a graphic designer, copywriter, researcher, photographer, and marketer all at once.

But that does not mean quality stops mattering.

It means that business owner now needs to get better at more things.

Having access to graphic design tools does not make you a graphic designer.

Having AI write something does not mean the writing is good.

Having a camera does not make you a filmmaker.

The tools are becoming easier.

The expectations are becoming higher.

AI Is Not an Excuse for Bad Work

People can tell when you do not care.

AI did not create that problem.

You can make a terrible graphic in Canva. You can make one in Photoshop. You can make one in MS Paint.

The tool changes.

The bad work is still bad.

AI is the same.

If you type one sentence into an AI, copy whatever comes out, and throw it in front of your customers, do not be surprised when it feels empty.

You still need taste.

You still need judgment.

You still need to care.

Authenticity Still Matters

I have already written about why authenticity matters, and AI makes that argument even more important.

People need to know there is a human behind your business.

Your customers should feel that you care about what you are putting into the world. Your marketing should sound like you, look like you, and represent what you actually believe.

That does not mean you cannot use AI to help make it.

I certainly do.

It means the final product still needs to be yours.

Use the Tool

I do not think the answer is to fear AI.

I also do not think the answer is to hand everything over to it.

Use it. Learn it. Let it make you faster.

Then use that extra power to make something better.

Because when everyone has access to the same tools, simply using the tool is no longer impressive.

What matters is what you do with it.

AI can lower the barrier to entry.

It can make you faster. It can make you more capable. It can let one person accomplish things that once took an entire team.

But the bar will keep going up.

So go the extra mile.

AI is a tool.

Treat it like one.

And hopefully, this ages well.