AI makes it easy to not struggle
But one you fully apprehend the vacuity of a life without struggle you are equipped with the basic means of salvation. Once you know this is true, that the heart of man, his body and his brain, are forged in a white-hot furnace for the purpose of conflict (the struggle of creation) and with the conflict removed, the man is a sword cutting daisies. — Tennessee Williams
I often encounter people around me — both in real life and online — who see AI as a quick fix to their problems. If they don’t want to do something or don’t know how to do something, Claude or ChatGPT comes to their rescue. A few keystrokes and they get their answers. I think this mindset of AI will solve my problems is OK, up to a point. For tasks that are routine, repetitive, or even not requiring much thought, I say go ham. But for work that is creative or strategic, AI-first is a bad idea.
As Williams suggests, struggle gives our creations and our life meaning. Thinking deep, hard, and out-of-the-box demands a lot from us. And when we become too accustomed to answers coming out so easily, what happens to our capacity to handle uncertainty and struggle? Isn’t being able to overcome creative challenges part of the fun?
If I was an AI company focused on profit, I would be keen to get my users to buy into the magic button philosophy of AI use. But since I’m neither, I will say that we should learn to use AI wisely. Use it to help you overcome your obstacles, and not overcoming your struggles for you.