Stay human, San Diego.

I am so sick of hearing about AI.

I also can't shut up about it.

Yes, before you ask, I also complain about traffic I am part of.

Bite me.

The moment transformer tech came into my various feeds back in 2021, I had a general feel for what was coming.

Not because I’m a genius. Far from it.

I've just read too much sci-fi, and saw people smarter than me thinking similar things.

But, I also know how this lil' marketing industry of ours works.

Hype.

Fear.

A thousand people selling the same shiny new thing.

Every agency, SaaS company, and LinkedIn f*ck has the same pitch:

Automate this.

Scale that.

Get left behind if you don’t.

But there's a glaring error becoming common:

Business leaders start by asking,

“What can we automate?”

When instead, they should be asking,

“What will we never automate?”

I call this entirely novel and poorly named process:

Pick what stays human.

Then automate the rest.

Instead of looking at your business and excising the human elements.

Start by protecting what makes you human in the first place.

The things that make your brand real.

The moments that build trust.

The conversations that actually convert.

Because here’s what’s (maybe, idk) going to happen:

As AI gets smarter, it will level the playing field.

Small businesses will compete with large orgs.

Freelancers will go blow-for-blow with huge agencies.

When that happens, when everyone has the same tools and tech?

The only thing left, will be the only thing left.

The human touch.

Before r/singularity comes at me for Luddism…

AI is powerful.

I use it often.

You probably should too.

Save time, cut costs, and streamline workflows?

No brainer.

There are things I’ll never go back to doing manually.

It would cause me psychological pain.

So, I also think the people in your feed claiming the opposite:

Showing terrible DALL-E art examples.

"Em dashes are a sign of ChatGPT use!!!!1"

"ArTiFiCiAl iNtElLiGeNcE cAn’T wRiTe GoOd aD cOpY."

Are just as wrong.

They're just as annoying, too.

(It's shift+option+hyphen—you idiots).

I empathise with the fear behind their words.

But shouting into the void won’t delay change.

Because time marches on.

Heedless of who it leaves behind to starve.

Skills and intelligence will become less valuable in certain settings, industries, and mediums.

Ultimately, this is a good thing.

It means fewer hours wasted.

It means levelling up what actually matters.

And maybe we'll stop confusing busy work with real work.

But if you mess this whole thing up,

You will lose more than you will gain.

Bet you my super balance.

Think about the last time you got an automated DM that sounded juuuuust human enough to be offensive for its assumption you wouldn't know.

The ones that start with:

“Hey [First Name],

I just wanted to personally reach out…”

Fuck off.

Kind regards.

Or the CVs written by AI…

Filtered by AI…

Reviewed by AI.

Like when you were a kid, and you’d say:

“I’ll get my mum to talk to your mum.”

It's a feedback loop of transformers talking to transformers.

Not even the cool kind.

That’s where we’re heading.

And the people who double down on automation without thinking will be lost in the noise.

Of course, I don't really know who will come out on top.

I don't even know where I'll be living in two years.

But I reckon those that thrive won’t be the ones who automated first.

And they won't be the ones who automated last.

What’s the point of this post?

Same as all the other content in this journal:

I don't know if there is one.

Why are you even reading it? Ya weirdo.

Partially, it’s a plea to retain some critical thinking.

Primarily, I think it’s to instil a dose of skepticism.

In the gurus trying to sell you...

AI

for

every

fucking

thiiiiing.

But also for those people saying "AI can't do XYZ."

And you know what?

Skepticism for me as well.

After all, I’m just some guy on the internet.

I might even be a bot.

Imagine that.

Would explain a bit, tbh.

Stay classy human, San Diego.