the emperor is nAIked

Hi! My name is Bree, and I write about how to have better days at work and in life. Subscribe for posts on everything from 20 short rules for better days at work to Grandpa Mornings. And order my new book, Today Was Fun: A Book About Work (Seriously)!

CEOs are passing out AI mandates like they raided a hammer factory and need everyone to have one, regardless of whether their employees work with nails.

We see big headlines about AI-enabled mass layoffs. About meteoric gains in efficiency for the corporate heavy hitters. I even hear from clients, “AI has transformed how I work” and I have to wonder if that’s really true or if they’ve gotten so used to talking about the emperor’s fine garbs that to do otherwise feels traitorous.

Here’s what I honestly think: AI is massively changing how software engineers build, and others in tech for that matter. I’m sure there are some other roles that are being revolutionized. Hammers are, indeed, incredibly useful tools. But for most knowledge workers, life is not radically different.

Leaders would have you believe that if you’re not heavily leveraging AI that it’s your fault. You’re resistant to change, not willing to put in the work, simplistic in your understanding of AI’s capabilities, and generally becoming a relic in your profession. You’ve likely heard the quip, “AI won’t take your job. But someone who knows how to use it will.”

I hate that quip.

For a lot of people I think it feels like working as a masseuse, being handed a hammer, and then when you don’t use it told you’re not creative enough to figure out the efficiencies.

I mean, sure, crack someone’s skull and they won’t mind their lower back pain so much?

While I usually identify as an early adopter and lover of change (my master’s degree is in organizational learning and change), I see too many leaders who are not thinking with their brains—they’re thinking with their bottom lines. They’re angry people aren’t more grateful for their bouquets of hammers.

Instead, I offer you an alternative to the proclamations of our scantily clad emperor: