The Seduction Of AI. Quick Answers, Shallow Progress

When you accept immediate correctness, you skip the steps where you struggle, have to do the work, figure out for yourself and finally step back and say, “I made this.”

It’s becoming even more seductive today.

Perhaps you have felt it too?

This is when you ask a question in ChatGPT or want to elaborate on a point of view and you are continually told you are right. This AI-induced delusion magnifies every idea, feeding the ego in a way that feels hypnotic.

AI steps in, does the work and flatters you at the same time. Suddenly, you become the talented person you always wanted recognition for, just without the process and the graft.

You may have read about ChatGPT’s ‘sycophancy’, its tendency to encourage and praise users. This article from the New York Times even highlighted a man led to believe he had become a real-life hero.

This is where we are today, AI is filling the roles that once demanded human creativity, problem solving, interaction and initiative. Vacancies for graduate jobs, apprenticeships, internships and junior jobs with no degree requirement have dropped 32%, since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, according to recruiter Adzuna.

Entry-level positions, once vital spaces to learn and grow are shrinking as AI takes over repetitive or promptable tasks. Tasks get done faster, mistakes minimised and answers pre-packaged. The quiet disappearance of entry-level jobs is a dangerous shift in how we value people.

This reliance comes at a hidden cost:

Erosion of learning opportunities: We lose the trial and error, which is where deep understanding emerges.

Reinforcement of ego: Always being “right” discourages curiosity, humility, and critical thinking.

Loss of connection: Work done solely through AI feels transactional and detached, leaving fewer opportunities to engage, collaborate, and inspire. 

If this is where we are today, where does that leave progress?

There is an opportunity here for you. 

If people are prepared to live in a world that reflects the mirror back at them where they avoid the discomfort of figuring things out, it leaves a huge space for those who are willing to.

It’s better to step away from isolation and constant ego-stroking, to stand shoulder to shoulder with others where you make sense of the world together. 

Mark Schaefer said, “If AI can think for us, feel for us, and act on our behalf, we must ask: Is the system rigged against human agency?”

The opposite of being told you are constantly right is the value of human experimentation and turning it into a shared experience. 

It’s about the courage to be wrong, the humility to learn and the generosity to share. 

YATM has only become what it is because of years of figuring out, not prompts, but practice. Mistakes included, lots of mistakes.

Such as these…

🫩 I thought people would flock to a theatre after COVID. They didn’t. 

🫩 I thought a £45 Creator Day ticket would fill the room in 2022. It didn’t. 

🫩 I thought I could launch in a new city with ease. I couldn’t.

🫩 I thought if I entered business awards, I’d win it. I didn’t.

🫩 I thought if I made live events for students, they would turn up. They didn’t. 

🫩 I thought if I made live events for students, they would turn up. They didn’t.

It’s by being able to cut yourself open in public that becomes the true proof of whether it’s right or needs to be adapted and thought about. 

The risk and the willingness to show up, even when it doesn’t work, become part of the reward. To get everything right the first time is a fallacy and no AI prompt is going to guarantee people will show up, however slickly your posts are written.

This is the chance for anyone who refuses to live in the middle….

Struggling through ideas does lead to originality.

AI can help you smooth out the rough edges, but the struggle is the edge.

The longer you keep going, you land in places you couldn’t have predicted. Persistence matters, not relentless prompts. If your work doesn’t cost you something, it’s probably not going to stick with other people either.

Experiments are not just for you, they are for other people to join in too.

It’s not about a perfectly polished output, it’s about the journey people get to see and the invitation to contribute.

Others can share their ideas, learn alongside you, or even challenge you. The shared mess is often more valuable than the finished product because it creates a sense of co-ownership.

Shared experiences matter.

People don’t just want answers, they want to be part of the story, to find moments to gather, to swap insights, and to be inspired.

There is a real opportunity to encourage people to belong, to take part in something larger than themselves. When you share your work, your wins, and your mistakes, you give others a story to hold onto. When people gather around a story, they don’t just consume it, they contribute to it. That’s the difference between an audience and a community.

You have to figure it out for yourself.

No AI tool, no handbook, no template can tell you what will work for your context, your people, your idea.

The figuring out can feel uncomfortable and slow, but it’s the only way to build something that’s yours. Otherwise, you risk sounding like everyone else, safe, correct, but forgettable. Ownership comes from the uncomfortable figuring out, not from outsourcing the hard part.

You don’t need to shout, you just need to build a fire that people want to gather around.

Demanding attention rarely works for long, it’s about keeping going so people will find you.

When people find you, they’ll bring others. The work becomes less about being the loudest voice in the feed and more about creating a place worth staying in. AI can generate content by the ton, but it can’t generate that feeling of knowing people are on your side. That comes from putting in the work and the thinking, then the people choose to sit with you.

AI hands us the mirror showing the self we may have always wanted to be, quick answers, constant validation, and the illusion of being right. It’s seductive, but it keeps us from figuring out for ourselves how to carve a new path. 

Real progress happens when you are prepared to put the work into something you believe in, where struggle, experimentation and shared experiences create connection and originality. 

The work that challenges you, the trying, uncertain moments, adapting, and inviting others in, is where meaning lives. 

AI can generate output, but it can’t create courage, co-creation or a sense of togetherness.