10 Comments You Should Stop Making About AI
Why AI Shaming Has to Stop, and What It Actually Reveals About You
It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of Sweet Bay Coffee Co. I spend almost every lunch break and free weeknight there writing about AI.
It’s the type of place where they already know your order before you have a chance to give it. I almost feel guilty if I ever change it up on them.
Among the place’s colorful personalities are the Dominoes retirees, one of whom has a less-than-enthusiastic view of our soon-to-be robot overlords (kidding).
His first instinct is to give in to the doom and gloom that can surround this topic.
And, it’s not just him. I get it from my superiors.
What happens when we can’t trust video or images anymore?
What happens when someone clones a person’s voice saying terrible things?
Valid fears. And, it’s already happening, to some extent.
But, painting AI with such a broad brush isn’t the best idea.
For starters, you may miss out on the very real productivity gains of using it. You also may end up pushing enough fearmongering to spook politicians into overregulation.
Overregulating AI, in turn, may produce catastrophic consequences if we lose our position to China or Russia in the AI arms race.
We know this technology isn’t going back into the box. So, maybe it’s time we cool it with the sky-is-falling and just realize there are good and bad things that can arise from it.
That means we should probably cool it with the AI-shaming of people who are bold about using it. Someone like me, for instance :).
I won’t lie to you. I use it for all kinds of things:
Work
Writing
Parenting
Brainstorming article ideas
Managing my schedule
Teaching the kiddo how to use it, including when she should and shouldn’t
I’m still an active part of all these situations. But, AI certainly helps meet the challenges.
We’ve been here before. When calculators became popular, teachers worried students would forget how to add.
When the Internet boomed, critics said it would ruin our brains. They were only partially right.
Any disruptive technology is going to have good and bad. But, one thing is for certain.
We’re all going to end up using it. Getting in there and doing it is the only way to use it effectively.
Tools don’t ruin us—they evolve how we work and think. AI is no different.
So, let’s dive into some of the more misguided things people say about AI use right now. And, maybe let’s try to stop saying them?
1. "AI is cheating."
It’s tempting to look at AI as a shortcut. People assume it replaces effort. But the truth is, AI only works as well as the person using it.
Let’s say you’re a freelance graphic designer. You use AI tools to prototype logos for clients.
The tools spit out ideas, but you tweak and reshape them. You experiment with colors, adjust the balance, and add personal touches.
The final design is yours. The AI just speeds up the grunt work.
Why It’s Wrong Thinking:
AI doesn’t do everything for you. It helps with repetitive tasks, letting users focus on strategy or creativity.
How to Counter It:
Think of AI as a power tool. A carpenter might use a nail gun, but they’re still building the house.
The most successful AI users know how to guide the tools. A well-crafted prompt can make the difference between mediocre output and something spectacular.
2. "So you're letting a robot do your thinking?"
AI doesn’t think. It analyzes patterns. The real thinking happens when people decide what to ask it—and how to use the answers.
Let’s say you’re a marketing manager. You use AI to brainstorm social media content.
You ask it for five post ideas about an upcoming sale. You still have to decide which idea fits the brand voice.
You tweak the language and approve the schedule. AI doesn’t make it ready for distribution. You do.
Why It’s Wrong Thinking:
AI tools can’t decide what’s good or bad. They only respond to what you tell them.
How to Counter It:
Good AI use starts with good judgment. People decide what’s useful, relevant, or creative.
AI works best when paired with human intuition. It’s a co-pilot, not the pilot.
3. "What if it takes your job?"
Jobs are rarely all-or-nothing. They’re bundles of tasks. AI can automate tasks, not positions.
Take customer service. AI chatbots can handle simple FAQs, but they can’t calm down an angry caller. If anything, they make them angrier.
To connect with customers, you need empathy, and that only comes through a shared human experience.
Unfortunately, some companies don’t get that message. Journalism, for instance, has been an industry hit hard by job cuts over the last year.
Something tells me these companies will regret their decision to replace human journalists with algorithms if their news publications live long enough to see it.
Why It’s Wrong Thinking:
AI is good at repetitive tasks. It sucks at actually being us. And, when humans are on the receiving end of the interaction, they tend to see through robotic attempts.
How to Counter It:
Use the time saved by AI to exert your value in other ways. Do some strategic thinking.
Cooperate with other divisions in your organization. Learn new skills (or even new AI tools) to make yourself invaluable.
AI is a force multiplier. It helps you work faster and smarter without replacing your expertise—so long as you don’t allow your expertise to stagnate.
4. "Only lazy people use AI."
Most people using AI are anything but lazy. They’re busy professionals trying to make the most of their time.
A small business owner who uses AI to draft emails, for example, will reinvest their time into working on the business rather than in the business.
Why It’s Wrong Thinking:
AI doesn’t eliminate quality control, personal input, or curiosity. People who use AI tools tend to have a curiosity that expands beyond completing their rote tasks.
They’re using these tools to eliminate the things they hate about their jobs. The time saved is more likely to give them a sense of ownership in their jobs or businesses.
How to Counter It:
Be bolder in the ways that you add value to your organization. When people notice, don’t hesitate to let them know about the ways AI is helping you get more done.
Efficiency isn’t laziness—it’s progress.
5. "How much of this is AI?"
To be fair, if you do get this one, you’re probably not putting enough of yourself into the final result. That said, it’s a condescending statement on the surface.
It betrays a disdain for either the creator or the audience. Either “this is too smart to be you” or “our audience is too stupid to understand this.”
Why It’s Wrong Thinking:
People act like the more AI is involved, the less valuable the result. But it’s not about the tool—it’s about the outcome.
How to Counter It:
Be able to articulate what you brought to the output. If you can’t, then yeah, you probably are misusing it.
But at the end of the day, if the final product solves a problem or gets the result you’re looking for, why does where it came from even matter?
6. "Anything created with AI is plagiarism."
This one stems from a misunderstanding of how AI works. AI doesn’t copy-paste. It uses patterns in data to create something new.
Think of a teacher who uses AI to create quizzes. She inputs her own lesson plans, and the AI builds questions around them.
The quizzes reflect her teaching—not someone else’s work.
Why It’s Wrong Thinking:
AI generates content based on patterns, not duplication. Yes, it trains on data.
But, the new content it creates is based on its understanding of thousands and thousands of patterns and sources.
Know what else works this way? The brain. So, if AI is a plagiarist, so are we.
How to Counter It:
Understand how AI works. If you hear someone say something like this, educate them.
And, if you don’t want to sound bland and robotic and want to maintain your unique voice, keep this in mind. The more tailored the input, the more unique the result.
7. "AI will make us all dumb."
People thought that about the Internet, too. But, the wealth of resources the web opened up has had the opposite effect.
If you’re a failure in the 21st Century, it’s not due to lack of access to knowledge and information.
AI won’t make us less capable. It will help us accomplish more. Our success will be in how we choose to use it.
Why It’s Wrong Thinking:
AI makes critical thinking more important, not less. It shifts our brains to higher-level problems.
How to Counter It:
Call out your creative and strategic successes. Reflect often on what AI tools have helped you accomplish and where your focus has been redirected as a result.
You’ll quickly see the tool is only as smart as the user.
8. "I could never trust AI."
Trust depends on understanding. People distrust what they don’t know.
The more you use AI, the more you’ll understand when to trust it and when to not.
AI does hallucinate. And people misremember.
The key is to know your purpose, know your stuff, guide the tool, and pay attention to what it produces.
Why It’s Wrong Thinking:
Blanket mistrust stems from a lack of understanding.
If you don’t trust it, I ask you this.
How much time have you spent with it? How many tools have you used? What have you used it for?
How to Counter It:
Encourage people to test AI in low-stakes situations. Hands-on experience builds trust.
AI doesn’t operate in a vacuum.
9. "AI art isn’t art."
Art has always embraced new tools.
Painters moved from frescoes to canvas. Photographers left the darkroom for digital.
Writers committed mass exodus from handwriting to the typewriter to the computer.
J.K. Rowling used to hand-write the earlier Harry Potter books before moving to a typewriter. By November 2006, she had graduated to a Windows laptop and Word.
Since finishing Potter books, she’s used a MacBook Air to write. Like her or not, no one would say she’s not a writer.
Why It’s Wrong Thinking:
Artistry—writing, illustration, photography, filmmaking—isn’t about the tools, it’s about the vision behind them.
How to Counter It:
Go back to No. 6. Understand how AI works. It learns styles like the human brain does, but it generates new creations from that understanding.
Work with the tools more, and you’ll see there’s a lot more to creating something original, compelling, provocative, et al., than prompting the AI with an idea.
You have to understand the vocabulary of what you’re trying to do. Learn what makes a style a style.
Want to create a photorealistic photo with AI, but it keeps coming out looking too “digital”? Tell the AI to create as if it’s lensing the photo with a specific camera type.
Want to make a video but unhappy with how the AI creates hands? Learn prompting techniques that address mutations. Or, edit the video in a way that erases AI’s limitations.
AI is just another tool.
It opens doors to new artistic possibilities, but you’re the one who has to walk through it.
10. "AI will destroy humanity."
We do a pretty amazing job of destroying humanity ourselves.
From dehumanizing one another on social media to actual warfare, I’d say we’re well ahead of AI in this regard.
Of course, humans have long feared technology’s progress, but we’ve always come out ahead of the curve. From the perspective of healthcare advancement, for example, we’re much better off now than we were 100 years ago.
(And, this is one area where AI is showing significant promise.)
That’s not to say new technology doesn’t come with inherent risks. But, until artificial general intelligence (AGI) is achieved, the only thing we have to fear from it is however we—humans—choose to misuse it.
Why It’s Wrong Thinking:
Doomsday fears ignore the real-world benefits AI already provides.
How to Counter It:
Balance the conversation by focusing on ethical uses and responsible regulation. The more people understand AI, the more possible both of these outcomes will be.
Changing the Conversation
This post only scratches the surface of the myths and misunderstandings surrounding AI. By digging deeper, we can move past the fear and hype to see AI for what it really is: a tool that evolves how we work and think.
It’s not just for tech giants or coders—it’s for all of us.
Whether you’re a parent, a professional, or just someone trying to simplify life, AI can help you work smarter and make a bigger impact. It’s not about replacing people; it’s about empowering them.
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