I haven't written in a while. My last article meant for August 2024 got stuck in drafts after the subject (replicating Nat Friedman-backed Hume.ai using only open source tools), turned out to have real value. Since then I've been busy raising money and consulting on other AI projects.
I bring this up as an excuse, but also to give context for why I'm writing this article. While I've been undeniably productive and stimulated these past months, something concerning has happened:
My unassisted writing skills have greatly atrophied.
You've probably noticed this too. ChatGPT has gone from spellchecking to editing to writing content in what feels like overnight. The craft of writing emails is dead: just paste the bullet points and let AI do the rest. Reports and longer-form content have similarly bleak prospects. Even something as trivial as a Reddit post is being run through or generated by AI.
What does this all mean?
In short, it's becoming clear that using AI is the productivity equivalent of a car. While the car does help you get to work faster, chronic dependence creates compounding physical atrophy. Similarly with AI, you get an (immense) productivity boost, except now the harm is primarily cognitive. This isn't conjecture: there are already multiple studies showing that this is a growing issue. (Source), (Source)
Obviously both the car and AI are useful. Both automate trivial things, allowing us to focus our time on more productive tasks. Turning into an anti AI Luddite would be like insisting to walk everywhere in suburban America. Sure, you're more in touch with "natural" locomotion, but is tugging your groceries back home in a Radio Flyer really the best way to spend your Tuesday?
How do you fix this?
You're actually reading the solution right now. Just as lifting weights helps stimulate your body in the absence of "natural" stimulus, engaging in a concentrated unassisted creative process stimulates the mind. Doing so lets you enjoy the best of both worlds: consuming cognitive junk food such as Instagram reels and using AI thinking tools, without compromising your ability to think.
You don't need to totally give up AI writing assist either. Even committing to writing first drafts by hand, then polishing with AI, still helps a lot. Across the miscellaneous research I've read on the topic, a common theme is that the key to fighting mental atrophy is to seek mental discomfort. So long as you don't let yourself get into a habit of delegating all your thinking to AI tools you'll be ahead of the crowd, especially as this decade closes out.
In the coming decade, it's pretty likely that an entirely new type of fitness industry will form: one dedicated to mental fitness. Whether this involves a fancy form of Sudoku or a more exotic Mentat-style training regimen remains to be seen. Regardless, as with physical fitness, the best time to start was yesterday. The next best time is today.