MC.80: What If AI Is Supposed to Make You "Worse"?

Here's a question that will make you uncomfortable: What if using AI tools is supposed to make you "worse" at your original skills?

Two recent academic studies have the tech world in a tizzy. Apple researchers questioned whether AI is truly "intelligent," while an MIT study suggested AI tools might be making us less capable. The media coverage reads like we've suddenly discovered AI might not be magic after all.

But I think we're missing the point entirely.

The Photographer's Fallacy: Why "Getting Worse" Is Actually Getting Better

This resistance to AI tools strikes me as fundamentally absurd. It's like complaining that calculators made us worse at long division, or that GPS made us terrible at reading maps.

Of course they did. And thank goodness for that.

The technology works. Not for everything, not perfectly, but for what it's designed to do—synthesis, summarization, code generation, analysis—there's no debate. This isn't theory; it's the practical reality that millions of us use daily.

Key Takeaway: Tool mastery means skill evolution, not skill degradation. The question isn't whether AI changes how we work—it's whether we're changing in the right direction.

The $15 Million Reality Check: How Cluely Proves Our Point

Just as AI skepticism peaks, along comes Cluely—raising $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz with zero product execution. It's almost too perfect.

Cluely represents everything broken about our AI discourse:

• Flashy promises, zero technical foundation

• Media noise substituting for substance

• Familiar founder mythology (college dropout genius, system hacker, outsider rebel)

• Moral positioning around cheating rather than human augmentation

The Real Problem: Instead of helping people become better at their work, Cluely explicitly promotes cheating. The semantic territory is dangerously slippery: "Cheating is great! Here's how to cheat better!"

This isn't just bad business—it's toxic for the entire industry.

The Promise Trap: Why We Keep Disappointing Ourselves

The industry has become addicted to hyperbolic promises, creating a predictable cycle:

1. Overpromise → Attention and investment
2. Reality gap → Disappointment
3. Disappointment → Mistrust
4. Mistrust → Defensive rejection

When AI is always promising to revolutionize everything, people stop believing it can improve anything.

The Path Forward: Building Mature AI Relationships

The AI industry needs to grow up. Here's how:

✅ Honest positioning about what works and what doesn't
✅ Clear use cases rather than universal solutions
✅ Ethical frameworks that prioritize human augmentation
✅ Resistance to hype that undermines genuine progress

The Bottom Line: The technology is remarkable. The applications are transformative. But our relationship with AI will only be as healthy as our honesty about its capabilities and limitations.

Your Turn: The Reality Check Challenge

We stand at a crossroads. We can continue the cycle of overpromise and disappointment, or we can build a more mature relationship with AI—one based on practical value rather than magical thinking.

I want to hear from you: What's your biggest AI reality check moment? When did you realize the gap between promise and practice?

Reply and share your story—I read every response and feature the best insights in future newsletters. Let's build a community of leaders who think critically about AI implementation.

Modern Chaos explores the intersection of technology, business, and society in an age of rapid transformation.

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Until next Thursday 🎉

Cheers,
Olivier

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