AI can do your homework, but should it live your life?
The choices ahead.
Imagine1 a world in which AI can do anything you ask it to. Write your essays, design and engineer complex products, even compose your music. Any cognitive task that just a decade ago was widely perceived as being the sole domain of human minds can now be done competently by software in this hypothetical future. Sounds great, right?
Well, that’s a choice.
As AI races to master tasks we once thought uniquely “ours”, it pushes us towards facing a crisis of identity. What does it mean to be human when machines can outthink us?
Here's a wild thought: What if you could outsource your entire life to AI and spend your days binge-watching (AI-generated, naturally) Netflix? After a long week at work, it may sound momentarily tempting. But would you actually be happy living like that? Is that a life well-lived?
The history of human behaviour suggests otherwise.
Consider that the player piano was invented 128 years ago and we live in a world where you can stream almost any music you want with a click. And, yet, humans still take piano lessons.
The player piano didn't kill live music. Spotify hasn't stopped people from learning instruments. Just because we can outsource something doesn't mean we always want to. Evolution conditioned us to be efficient, but also curious, and to find joy in striving. πάντες ἄνθρωποι τοῦ εἰδέναι ὀρέγονται φύσει. Aristotle understood.
So here's the million-dollar question: If AI could do anything, what would you choose to do yourself?
This isn’t a question about technology. It's a question about you.
Take that English composition 101 essay. Sure, ChatGPT could whip it up in seconds. But if you outsource it, you're cheating yourself out of learning how to craft a great paragraph; learning what a good sentence looks like. You're not just cutting corners - you're cutting out a piece of your own growth. This decision isn’t a technology decision, it’s a moral and ethical decision you have to make based on your values not on the affordances of technology.
And that is the most important framing. As AI gets more capable, we need to get increasingly intentional and thoughtful about how we use these tools. We need to teach our youth not just how to use AI, but when and why to use it. Yes, AI can do your homework. But should it? Does that align with your values, your goals, your vision of who you want to be?
We're entering a world where most of us will have AI assistants at our beck and call. The choices we make about what to delegate and what to do ourselves will define us, not the technology. Use AI thoughtfully, and it could supercharge your potential. Use it mindlessly, and you might wake up one day to find you've outsourced your life.
This isn't about technology. It's about what it means to be human in the 21st century. What makes us unique? What do we value? How do we stay true to those values in a world of temptation to outsource what we ought to keep for ourselves?
The future is coming at us fast. We can't predict it, but we can shape it. Every time you're tempted to ask AI for help, pause and ask yourself: Is this making me more human, or less?
In the end, technology won't define us. Our choices will. Choose wisely and with intent.
The tools of strategic foresight are much better-suited to reason about a complex and uncertain future. But here, for the sake of argument, I’m going to focus on just a single, extreme, scenario (with no claim that this is the “right” scenario that will come to pass… just that it’s a useful thought experiment!)