🤖 AI is a tool. Humans are the business 🥷
For almost a year I have been preaching that AI is overhyped, over-capitalized, and headed for a bubble, and that the rug could be yanked it at anytime. I had used it here and there, but I don’t rely on it.
Over the past couple of months, I have had a subscription to Gemini. My test: is it better than the free version? I’d say yea. I used it to put together some slides and infographics for a Tech Risk Management class. Most recently I fought with Gemini to make a show style poster for an upcoming event at The LOBBY. I ended up using ChatGPT when Gemini would spin and give out.
Let’s look at some of the things I have learned.
The Value Proposition: Is AI a helpful tool? Absolutely. For $20 a month, I’m getting a ton of value out of Gemini. That poster is better than what I could put together in an afternoon. And frankly, I wouldn't have the budget or time to cycle through a human designer for every minor asset. In my classroom work, it functions as a force multiplier—supplementing my knowledge and handling the drudgery of slide layouts while I focus on the message. It allowed me to produce infographics and videos for Executive Directors to share that simply wouldn't exist otherwise. It helps me with SEO and other things that a computer is better at than me.
The Workflow vs. The Foundation: I use it to start. I use it to hone. It is a growing part of my workflow. But does it save me time? That’s still a "maybe." Like my early-adopter days banging my head against a Palm Pilot, I’ve learned to recognize the difference between progress and perfection. It hits home runs, but it also whiffs. It’s the Cecil Fielder of tools. It gets people in the stands because it might smash a dinger, but it is also likely to waste an at bat when I need it in a crunch.
This is why I refuse to tie my business outcomes to a layer of technology I cannot control or accurately predict the expense of in projections. I refuse to build on a foundation that, until recently, couldn't count the letters in "strawberry."
The Looming "Rehumanization." The current math doesn't work. When the infrastructure stalls, when VCs realize they’ve been taken for a ride, and when CAPEX investments turn into OPEX nightmares, the companies that outsourced their soul to an API will be forced to pivot. You know who told me that? Gemini. They will need Rehumanization.
Firing your engineering staff is a catastrophic mistake. As a colleague told me recently: “They know more about the business than anyone.” That is the rub. Computers are rational; people are not.
The Context Gap: Context has never been a computer’s strong suit. They still struggle with the concept of time because time is a human invention. To a computer, the sun goes up and the sun goes down. That it can calculate because it follows the laws of physics. It doesn't understand that payroll has to go out on Friday because people have bills, even if the "rational" calendar says the last day of the month is Sunday. You need humans to help computers understand human things. Another example is analogies. It knows what they are, but it isn’t good at coming up with them.
AI is a tool for the work—but humans are the business. When your business needs to be right 99.9999% of the time, don’t put your eggs in an expensive basket that has more holes than a Palm Pilot in a Colorado gravel pit …see what I mean about coming up with them? Nice try, Gemini 🤦
Poster I used ChatGPT for an upcoming event at The LOBBY
One of the infographics I never would have made for a Tech Risk Management class
