Takeaway: AI is either the most transformative technology of our time or a source of endless noise—and the answer is both. The difference comes down to intention. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 10s.
I'm so sick of hearing about AI, but yet I can't stop using it every single day.
Every time I open my email, it seems some press rep is trying to pitch me on an AI product, so I can mention it to newsletter subscribers like you. I receive so many pitches these days about crappy vibe-coded apps and AI services that nobody will ever need or use. And the worst messages? They're written by AI too—garbage intentionless slop sent to sell more garbage. People aren't going to create incredible things with this technology. They're not looking to express their humanity through it. The people sending these messages are just automating their way out of caring.
And then there's the discourse. AI, depending on who you ask, is either the most useful technology imaginable or it's going to destroy the planet—either because it'll take all of our jobs or completely wreck our environment (which has enough problems!). We are in this black and white world where any thing is either good or terrible, and algorithms polarize us into believing one way or the other about pretty much everything. There's no space in between.
But here's the thing: even though I'm sick of hearing about AI, I can't stop using it.
Claude Cowork has wormed its way into an incredible number of my workflows. It's legitimately one of the best products I've used in years. I've had it create a health dashboard that integrates multiple fitness goals of mine, so I can balance them all at once. I use it to help me create dashboards for my smart home. I get it to listen to timed transcripts of talks I'm rehearsing to identify what to tighten up and what to expand. I use Wispr Flow (affiliate link; I get a free month if you sign up) basically all day and now write most of my emails with it. I'm even using it to write this blog post right now—so I can dictate these words instead of typing them, which now feels slow and full of friction.
So is AI amazing or is it terrible?
It's both. And I think many of the people who are most exhausted by the discourse are the ones who are actually using it well.
The difference, I think, comes down to intention. AI doesn't write for me. It doesn't create for me. But it does take the raw material of my thoughts and helps me organize them into something I'm proud to publish. I don't need a crappy first draft—I can very easily create that myself. What I need is to be guided from the crappy first draft into seeing how my ideas can become something better. That's the power of it: a great editor at my side that helps me express my ideas without ever stepping on my voice.
When AI is used without any intention behind it, you get slop. You get the pitches in my inbox. You get bland pablum that anybody can create because anybody can submit a bad prompt. But when you start with your intentions—when you know what you actually want to accomplish, and you use AI to support you in accomplishing it—you keep your voice, your creativity, your art, your ideas—and you offload the drudgery.
It's okay to be sick of the noise. I personally am too. But the technology is here whether we like it or not, and it will support you in ways that you love. The key is to start with your intentions and then work backwards to how AI can support them.
Use good taste. Use good judgment. Don't let it create for you. Let it help you create.
Intentionality, after all, is what makes us human.
This post riffs off a few ideas in my latest book, Intentional.
