Artificial intelligence is one of the biggest technological shifts of our generation – and yet we often talk about it either too dramatically or too technically. I see it differently: not as a threat, not as a miraculous salvation, but as a tool that can return people the ability to learn, think, and create with much broader reach. This article is an attempt to capture my own view of AI: realistic, thoughtful, and cautiously optimistic. And to explain why I think AI makes sense – if we use it with our heads switched on.
Introduction
For a long time, I felt I should start writing about things that genuinely interest me – topics I think about often – but I kept putting it off. In the end, it was artificial intelligence that pushed me to finally begin. Not because it’s a trendy topic, but because I feel AI is one of the biggest changes we are experiencing today. And because we talk about it either too technically, or too dramatically.
When I look around, I see several groups. One views AI through a purely technical lens – they compare model benchmarks, build agent systems, tune their ChatGPT custom instructions, and celebrate every new feature. Another group sees AI as a path to a new civilizational era of abundance and limitless potential. And then there’s a third group, for whom AI is primarily a threat – to their job, to society, to the world.
I’m an optimist, but I don’t belong fully to any of these camps. I’m optimistic because I believe AI represents an enormous opportunity. I’m realistic because I know it comes with risks. I’m fascinated by what it can do and equally curious about where its limits are. I think about it with respect – but not with fear.
That’s why I decided to start writing. Not because I have all the answers, but because I want to look for the right questions. I want to think out loud, share experiences, explore my own viewpoints, and explain why I believe AI may be one of the best things that has happened to us – if we approach it with reason, humility, and openness.
AI as an Opportunity: A Democratizer of Knowledge and Competence
When I look at today’s generative models, I don’t see tools that will take people’s jobs. I see tools that give people the ability to learn faster, smarter, and often in areas they would otherwise never explore. For me, that’s their biggest strength – not in creativity or genius, but in opening doors to worlds that used to be accessible only to experts.
LLMs are, above all, equalizers of competence. They won’t turn anyone into a top specialist, but they can take someone who wants to learn and bring them within minutes to a level that used to require weeks or months.
Programming, writing, economics, marketing – whatever the field, models like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude can explain principles, provide examples, offer structure, or guide you to improved understanding through dialogue.
That doesn’t mean LLMs are perfect. They make mistakes. They hallucinate. Sometimes they give answers that close doors instead of opening them. But that’s also how humans learn – through trial, error, and feedback. This is why I see them as collaborators, not authorities. As patient colleagues with an enormous breadth of knowledge – tireless, always willing to explain something again, and ready to spend as much time with me as I need.
And in this combination, I see their biggest societal value. LLMs are not geniuses inventing new ideas out of thin air. They are tools capable of connecting knowledge across domains. They can take a fragment from one field, connect it to a fragment from another, and provide a perspective that might otherwise take years to reach. And from such cross-connections, new ideas and new approaches often emerge. AI is not a tool that simplifies the world. It’s a tool that opens it up. And if we use it responsibly – aware of its strengths and weaknesses – it can help us become people with far broader reach than any generation before us.
Real Risks: What AI Can Make Worse If We’re Not Careful
Being an AI optimist doesn’t mean ignoring risks. In fact, the biggest mistake is to dismiss them. I just don’t believe the real risks lie where the loudest voices point. I don’t fear apocalyptic scenarios. I don’t see the end of civilization as the default outcome. What worries me more are quiet, gradual shifts that can have long-term effects.
1. Cognitive Comfort
LLMs are so good at clear explanations that it’s dangerously easy to skip the learning process. Instead of exploring sources, studying arguments, and forming our own perspective, we get a polished, digestible answer – fast, convincing, pleasant. And if that becomes “good enough,” we risk losing one of the most important human skills: thinking independently.
2. Shrinking Mental Endurance
Many people already struggle to read long texts. Social media has trained us to skim. AI can reinforce this – when answers arrive in seconds, why spend ten minutes reading deeply? But real understanding often emerges only when we slow down, reflect, and go beyond the surface.
3. The Illusion of Understanding
AI can explain things beautifully. Sometimes too beautifully. It creates the impression of understanding – but understanding an explanation is not the same as understanding the topic. It’s like using GPS. You get where you want to go, but you don’t really know the route, the landscape, or the logic. You miss the process that develops real knowledge – searching, trying, failing, discovering. These risks matter. They’re not trivial. But they don’t convince me that we should fear AI. They convince me that we should learn to use it consciously, critically, and with discipline.
Why the Benefits Still Outweigh the Risks
When I think about AI, I don’t see a force that threatens us. I see a force that will require us to grow. Throughout history, groundbreaking innovations were first perceived as threats – the printing press, electricity, the industrial revolution, the internet. Each shook society, disrupted structures, and took away certain comforts. Yet each ultimately created far more value than harm.
AI belongs to the same category. It will challenge some assumptions – like the idea that knowledge equals expertise, or that repetition equals understanding. But it will also give us something we’ve never had before: access to knowledge at a scale that was unimaginable even a few years ago, and the ability to extend our own capabilities in a deeply practical way.
When I use AI consciously – not as a shortcut but as a partner – I see how powerful it can be. It doesn’t make me a better human or a deeper thinker by itself. That’s still my job. What it does is expand the space in which I can think. It helps me grasp structure more quickly, test more directions, explore more connections. But whether I truly understand those connections — whether I push beyond the first easy answer — is entirely up to me.
And perhaps the most valuable part isn’t the fact that it can summarize the world’s knowledge, but the fact that AI is someone or something to talk to. I can share my thoughts, have them challenged, expanded, structured. It’s like having a patient, educated assistant with infinite time and steady attention – someone who can help me navigate thinking, writing, and learning.
That’s why I believe AI can give people more control over their abilities, not less. Not as a replacement for thinking, but as a conversational partner that helps us think more, not less. If we use it with humility, critical distance, and awareness of its limits, it may become one of the most valuable tools for human development we’ve ever had.
Conclusion: A Manifesto of Rational Optimism
When I reflect on AI, I feel neither fear nor blind enthusiasm. I feel respect – and curiosity. And a belief that this is a technology that can open more doors than it closes. Not because it’s perfect, but because its impact will grow together with how consciously we use it.
Many fears around AI come from the instinctive worry that a major innovation might disrupt the delicate balance of our world. We’ve seen similar anxieties in history – even in hypothetical scenarios like unlimited energy, where sudden abundance could break geopolitical and economic ties holding the world together. These concerns make sense. Yet history also shows something else: human society adapts far better and far faster than we often expect.
And I think AI will follow the same pattern. It’s not a road to perfection, nor a road to collapse. It’s a road to transformation. A transformation that will require discipline, critical thinking, the ability to separate substance from hype, and the willingness to reflect on what we use and why. If we can do that, AI can genuinely help us broaden our perspective, discover better ideas, and understand the world around us more deeply.