What we’re being told
about the tole of AI in today’s world.
At school, at work, online, on social media, at conferences, by friends, coworkers, bosses, kids, parents—even the cashier at the grocery store. Everywhere, all the time, the same message echoes:
“AI won’t replace you. But someone using AI will.”
Smells like stir-fried pressure. What a way to throw a few solid pinches of anxiety into our already full-of-unknowns lives.
So, People Start Using It…
Emails. Receipts. Dissertations. Market research. Product design. Videos of half-dog, half-chimp hybrids dancing to Michael Jackson. You name it. Everyone’s using it.
ChatGPT, Gemini, Canva, Midjourney—whatever. You used it today? Great. So did everyone else. Not impressed.
The truth? It’s all golden unless you actually know how to trade it.
Buried Under the Valley
Most people are now buried under the illusion of productivity, right under Silicon Valley’s digital weight. Not because they love the tools—but because they’re afraid:
Afraid of being left behind.
Afraid of losing their job.
Afraid of not looking “innovative” enough.
Afraid their ego won’t keep up.
And so, AI becomes a crutch. A flashy shortcut. A way to speed up unnecessary admin, boring bureaucracy, and legacy tasks that never should have taken up so much time to begin with.
From Transformation to POs
In my work with clients, AI conversations often start big:
“Let’s transform. Reinvent. Reimagine. Rethink.”
And before we know it?
We’re talking about how to improve invoicing. Or how to raise a PO more efficiently. Or how to automate drafting an RFI.
Really? That’s where this was all heading?
That’s fine—those tasks matter too. But is this what AI was meant for? Isn’t that something Coupa or a decent IT team should be solving?
Start With Vision, Not Tools
Wouldn’t the world be more fascinating if we started by designing how work should actually feel, and then let AI build around that?
Imagine having a digital assistant—not just a tool—that works alongside your real one. One learns from the other. One gets smarter, the other more strategic. Imagine deploying your digital self to run one project while your real self leads another.
We’re not dreaming here. We’re just thinking upstream—where the real leverage is.
But to do that, you have to stop obsessing over tech. You have to look up from the platform, the feature, the update—and start with the vision.
Let. You. Think.
Before anything else:
Ask better questions.
Read real books.
Challenge assumptions.
Design ideal workflows.
Build prototypes.
Fail. Learn. Iterate. Scale.
Apply the same obsession you give to a Netflix series to a bold idea. Chase it like a helium balloon you forgot to tie to the tree.
Forget the paycheck, the toxic coworkers, the lack of buy-in, the boring tools. For a minute—just let yourself think.
Because at the end of the day:
You won’t be replaced by AI.
You won’t even be replaced by people who use AI.
You’ll be replaced by people with vision—and the courage to use AI to make it real.