Understand once and for all: AI is a tool!

Can a drilling machine build furniture on its own? It might sound like a silly question, but many people still don’t get the basics: Artificial Intelligence is a tool – and as long as we don’t have a society of self-sufficient, conscious machines living among us, it will remain just that.

Back to the drilling machine – when it was invented, did any carpenter worry about being replaced by it? I don't think so. As a tool, a drilling machine can't complete the entire process on its own. Besides, to build a piece of furniture, you need several other tools, materials, and inputs, not to mention human knowledge – which is what actually creates the furniture.

AI works the same way. It doesn’t create everything from scratch on its own. It needs human knowledge, inputs, and sometimes even other tools to produce good results. The only difference now is that, if you want to keep standing out, you need to learn how to use this new tool – which exists to make your life easier, not to replace you.

Alright, but if AI is just a tool, why is it important to learn how to use it? Can’t I just keep doing my work the old way? Let’s go back to the drilling machine: before it existed, carpenters and other professionals had to use screwdrivers, hand wrench and all sorts of other instruments to build furniture. If you’ve ever tried to assemble a wardrobe without a drill, you know how much longer and harder the process can be when everything has to be done manually.

In other words, the drilling machine makes the job faster, more agile, and more efficient. In the time it used to take to build one wardrobe, you can now build at least three. And still, you need a hammer to finish it off – and sometimes, a screwdriver to tighten the last screws.

Just like that, AI – as a tool – can make your work faster and more efficient, allowing you to produce much more in the same amount of time. Even then, you still need other tools, or to refine AI’s output to make it just right. Plus, you need to know how to use the drilling machine, which screwdriver fits which part, and the correct assembly order. The same applies to AI: you need to give it the right input, know when to use it, and choose the right resources for the job – or you risk getting poor results and not understanding why.

That’s why, instead of fearing Artificial Intelligence, the right path is to learn how to use this incredible tool to make our work easier – not just to deliver better results more quickly, but also to use the time AI saves us to rest, explore our creativity, develop new skills, and maybe, just maybe, live more and work less.

Keep following our blog to read more posts like this and learn how to use AI as a tool to simplify your work!

*Text written by a human – no AI involved!