Issue #20: I'm not using AI. Are you?

Gen Z isn't using AI as much as I thought.

Hellooo everyone! I’m in London for work this week and let me just say, I forgot how nice the Tube is. Sometimes I wonder how tourists survive the subway when they visit New York. It’s just so unintuitive and gross. Tomorrow, I’m jet-setting to my cousin’s wedding and I feel like such a glamorous little lady right now. 

Hope you enjoyed last week’s interview with Kristine! I have another interview coming up in the next couple of weeks. I’m also thinking of starting a Sunday edition of this newsletter – would you be interested in reading it? It would be a lot more casual – maybe some fun links from the week and a little personal reflection or ramblings about my life. What do you think?

Anyhow, on my flight to London earlier this week, I sat next to a very kind man. I asked for his name, and of course approximately 1.2 seconds later, I forgot it. But then I remembered that he shared a Google Maps list of all 102 of his favorite restaurants in London with me, and now I get a notification every time Satish adds a restaurant to the list, which has been pretty often.

The list.

But after learning about what I do for a living, Satish proceeded to give me a lot of life and career advice. While unprovoked airplane conversations typically annoy me, this was coming from a really good place and it was actually pretty helpful. Plus, I want to get better about talking to strangers and not just immediately putting in my AirPods, you know? 

From what I remember, his advice boiled down to these four things:

1. Start a passive income stream and retire early.

2. Mentor someone.

3. Ask five of my colleagues for five words to describe my character. (I’m scared of this one.)

4. Use AI in my job. All the time, for everything.

Today, I want to focus on the last point: Use AI in your job. All the time, for everything. 

Currently, I don’t really use AI for anything other than some copy editing or re-wording of convoluted work messages and emails. But Satish’s advice shifted something for me. My boyfriend uses AI all the time – both at work and outside of work. I think part of me still feels like using AI is cheating, like I’m stealing the answers from a friend for my homework. But in reality, it’s just part of the new environment that we’re all living in. But I’m curious to learn more about how Gen Z conceptualizes AI at large.

A study from Axios came out earlier this week showing that 41 percent of young adults in the U.S. (ages 14 to 22) have never used AI tools. 17 percent have used them once or twice ever, and 12 percent use them once or twice a month.

I guess I thought that kids would be using them a lot more? It often feels challenging to find ways to plug AI into the type of work that I do, but I could see tons of AI applications in high school and college homework. I just assumed that every kid uses AI for their schoolwork these days.

Another part of my reluctance to fully embrace AI in my work also stems from the fact that I don’t want AI to take my job. In my mind, if I do my job with AI, then I become replaceable by AI. While the ultimate goal is for AI to become my helpful assistant and not me, I think my sentiment reflects the thoughts of a lot of other young people in regards to artificial intelligence. There’s a mixed bag of fear and excitement around the potential of AI. According to the article:

“Some are concerned, saying, ‘AI is very creepy,’ and ‘AI concerns me,’ while others are optimistic, sharing sentiments like, ‘I really cannot wait to see how it evolves in the future.’”

The study also calls out that, since the rise of the web 30 years ago, young users have typically adopted and shaped each new dominant tech platform. This is interesting. If young people aren’t adopting AI like they did with the web and social media, we could see a myriad of effects. Developments in AI could progress at a slower rate. People may not reap its full extent of benefits. But on the other hand, Gen Z’s caution may help slow down any detrimental effects of rapid artificial intelligence developments. Perhaps there’s an opportunity to approach AI more ethically than older generations.

I’m curious what your AI usage looks like.

I’d also love to know your feelings about AI.

Let me know how you use AI in your work or life by leaving a comment or replying below. Thanks for answering all my polls in today’s issue. And I’ll keep you posted with any developments in how I choose to implement my airplane buddy’s advice. Thanks for reading :)