Many companies quietly assume that everyone wants more AI in their lives. that people are longing for new AI featuresnew AI products, new AI workflows – all of that would magically replace all existing outdated practices and failed ways of working.
But in reality it seems that people don’t want more AI not at all, at least not in the way most AI leaders envision it. As expected, many AI functions have low adoption and retention – at a very high delivery cost and a high risk of reputational damage.
The AI that people don’t need
It is notoriously difficult to make a strong argument with senior managers, but AI is not a value proposition. New AI features don’t magically make customers happy or excited. Because AI functions are typically separate, complementary tools for employees to use, they typically get people out from your usual way of working.
AI is pretty good at amplifying shortcuts and deficiencies in organizations, from data quality to decision making. You can’t magically fix years of accumulated quick patches, technical debt, broken culture, and internal politics. If anything, they become more visible with AI as inconsistencies or conflicting priorities and are delivered directly to users, who must then make sense of the mess for themselves.
Because in most organizations, work typically requires moving in and out between many disconnected and fragmented systems, with a new AI tool, they now have another system that they also need to move in and out of. It often produces more work and is usually not particularly rewarding work either.
Furthermore, people are very aware of the Cost of finding and correcting AI hallucinations. Ask AI to generate a response it might feel easier than writing from scratch, but it has a cost:
- Leaf through all AI output,
- Detect key points to focus attention on,
- Review/verify key pointsone by one,
- Check the justification for what follows next,
- Articulated corrections + regenerate,
- Check the answer (several times).
For many people, AI is not something they can proactively choose and explore on their own: it comes uninvited and at someone else’s pace. In addition, many messages amplify Fears and concerns about AI. replacing work, so it is not surprising that AI perception is not emotion. Is resistance to change and a deep anxiety about one’s place in a world that seems to be changing without them.
At best, AI features could be quietly accepted or rejected. In the worst case, AI raises concernsdoubts, caution and requires a good dose of skepticism. And sometimes it is perceived as a threat or responsibility – because unlike other functions, AI is neither predictable nor reliable.
People don’t dream of IA Art Museums or AI refrigerators or AI hotel reception or AI narrated children’s books. They don’t want their children to have AI romantic partners. Most people don’t want to actively manage (and clean up after) a swarm of AI agents roaming around your bank accounts and acting on your behalf in the real world. And the most notable thing is that people don’t want a magic box to talk or write with all the time.
The AI that people really need
I’m always amazed at how AI’s characteristics compare to how unreliable humans are. But people don’t compare software with other people. They compare features with features And if a feature of one product is unreliable, while a similar feature works perfectly in another, they choose the latter. It’s not about AI or not, but about what works consistently and reliably and what doesn’t.
Many conversations about AI are conversations about speed of delivery. But for many people, increasing delivery speed has little value. They want to do things right, with enough time to think and make good decisions. they also want enjoy the time spent working on thingsrather than simply shipping faster. There is a tremendous feeling of reward and accomplishment that slowly disappears, one coded vibrational shift at a time.
People don’t change much. And after all these years, they (still) want features that are fast, accessible, and reliable, predictable and useful – every time. And ideally not those that replace your entire workflow, but rather increase their way of working, and that they take charge of the most mundane, annoying and boring tasks that they do not find pleasurable.
Many jobs are exposed to AI automationbut in many of them there is a rewarding, unique and creative part that requires taste, point of view and perhaps even human intuition. And if the AI automates boring parts of this, that is an advantage for everyone. That is also what improves productivity and brings more joy in daily life.
When AI automates tedious and mentally draining tasks, their value is much easier to grasp. But for that, AI should not seem complementary. should be deeply integrated into people’s existing workflows. It must also match the existing ones. mental models that they have developed and perfected over years or decades. AI should adapt to the way people think and make decisions, not the other way around.
And it doesn’t really matter whether these features are called “AI,” “smart,” or “automation.” However, they should work well for the people who use them. And that means that people must be aware of use cases where it really helps them and get inspired to find more use cases on your own.
Ironically, the tools that work well there are not “AI first,” but are “AI-second”. Subtle, humble, calm, ambient, taking a supporting role in the background for otherwise remarkably boring and unnecessary work.
I don’t want to read books written by AI. I don’t want to look at AI paintings. I don’t want AI to teach my children. I don’t want to have an AI therapist. I don’t want AI to make my medical decisions. I want AI to do everything physical and mental work that requires me to be able to read books written by humans and go to art galleries to interact with art made by humans. I want an AI that makes my life easier instead of forcing me to change myself.
Concluding
Maybe I’m missing the bigger picture, and maybe I’m just old school, but I really like people. Their stories, their thoughts, their emotions, their enthusiasm, their laughter. AI can be very useful in many situations, but so are people. And between the two, I would prefer spend time with a human – no matter how imperfect – every time.
No, people don’t need more AI in their lives – they need AI to automate all the boring things they have to deal with every day, so they have more time and mental space to do the things they really love and enjoy doing. That doesn’t mean spending more time with AI, but spending more time with the people you love.
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