This post is going to be controversial and I’m okay with that.
I'm concerned with what AI is doing to human innovation and creativity.
Here's what I've been seeing online.
Creator videos. Ads. “No ideas? No problem. Download this platform, type in your niche, and it’ll generate all your content — so you don’t have to think.” Then you just film it. Boom. Done.
That’s not you using your brain. That’s you renting someone else’s.
Yesterday I watched someone with hundreds of thousands of followers call a man a caveman — for writing his own LinkedIn post without AI.
His crime? Using his own mind.
AI can be a brilliant thought partner, but it cannot and should not be your brain.
Here’s what I want you to know:
AI can only create net old — never net new.
It researches. It remixes. It takes what already exists and rearranges it.
Which is definitely useful! But, it’s backward‑looking by design.
It doesn’t have your imagination. It doesn’t have your ingenuity.
It has never once had an original idea.
You have. You do. You will again.
I studied graphic design, so I know this feeling in my body. You hit the wall. No ideas. Nothing coming. It’s frustrating and actually, it’s supposed to be.
Sitting inside that discomfort is where the discipline gets built.
When you finally break through — that “oh, FINALLY” moment — there’s nothing like it on earth.
AI can hand you an answer. It cannot hand you the breakthrough.
We put a man on the moon before AI even existed.
Sit with that. Every ounce of it was human imagination, human grit, human ingenuity — no shortcut or prompting. That’s the potential you’re carrying around right now.
Creativity isn’t a gift a lucky few were handed.
It’s a muscle.
You build it by using it — through the walls, the discomfort, the discipline of thinking for yourself. Outsource that work and the muscle wastes away. Do the work, and you become more human, not less.
It’s fine to use AI as a thought partner, a collaborator. Just don’t let it replace your thinking. PLEASE. You’re going to cause harm to your creativity long term.
If you want to level up your OWN human skill of innovation and creativity, come hang out with me. It’s why I post so much about this. I want YOU to become the best innovator and creative person out there. That’s what it means to be human!
I make the whole case in the video — caveman story and all.
When was the last time you sat with a hard problem (no shortcutting) and let yourself find your own way through?
Hit reply and tell me. I want to hear all about it!
P.S. Want to bring this — real human creativity, not shortcuts — to your team or organization? Reach out. I’d love to partner with you to build a culture where people think for themselves and astonish themselves with what they can do. 🥳
Stay innovative my friends.
Your innovation & creativity coach,
Leo
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