A Personal Reconsideration of Dependence on AI

Summary

The author recounts moving from enthusiastic AI adoption to a more cautious and critical relationship with the technology. He had championed GitHub Copilot and later trusted increasingly capable models to perform more autonomous work, building agent-like systems to experiment on disposable personal projects. He distinguishes that tolerance from the much higher standard he applies to revenue-generating production systems. A recent conversation with a visibly exhausted person, after both sides had apparently relied partly on AI-generated communication, made the author reconsider whether AI’s productivity gains were offset by social and human costs. He says he began noticing more automated or impersonal interactions around him, including unanswered greetings, generic resumes, and AI-centered conversations. Low interaction on his AI-related LinkedIn posts also led him to speculate, cautiously and rhetorically, about an internet increasingly populated by agents rather than people. The author has responded by reconnecting with people directly and using LinkedIn partly for informal human interaction. He says he is not abandoning his AI subscriptions, but feels that heavy AI use contributed to writer’s block and that stepping back has restored a sense of energy and attention to ordinary human contact.