My first true encounter with AI was at a teacher training about two years ago, where the objective was to show the different ways AI could save teachers’ time.
My reaction to using AI to design my next lesson plan was not positive. I admittedly saw the ease in stating your lesson’s objective and yielding a full lesson plan in seconds. It was tempting to give it a try, but all I could think about was how I wouldn’t even know how to teach without designing my own lesson plans.
I then decided to ask AI for an age-appropriate chore chart for my 10-year-old son at the time. It was the one thing in my life that I could think of that I really needed help with. The list AI gave me was adequate, but I knew I would never reference it. It felt cold and generic.
I decided then not to use AI anymore; I wish I could say the same for my friends.
I feel peer pressure to start using AI
All my close friends use AI regularly to do everything from designing their weekly meal plans to scheduling out their entire weeks. They rave about how brilliant and helpful it is.
Getting on board with AI is almost starting to feel like peer pressure. I do realize that I cannot entirely resist technological change, but choosing to do my own thing instead of using AI is my choice right now.
What makes me most uncomfortable is feeling like I’m being interrogated about why I’m choosing not to use it.
I’d love to stand on the rooftops and yell about why I don’t want to use AI, but because I love my friends, I don’t want to criticize them and their choices.
Because of a good friend, AI did me a big favor once
One of my friends talked me out of a poor haircut decision by asking ChatGPT to alter a photo she had of me with the haircut.
It was not a good look, and in this instance, a friend used AI to save me from regretting a rash haircut decision and many years of awkwardly growing my hair out. Still, this one experiment wasn’t enough to lure me to AI use in my everyday life.
While I do my best to support and hype up my friends, I make a point of telling my girlfriends that I prefer their untouched, original photos. And it’s the truth. I explain that I love seeing all the imperfections, and that the unfiltered version of them is the one I find more beautiful.
In this way, I feel like I can still express my opinions about AI while showing my love and respect for them simultaneously.
I now want to be more thoughtful when sharing my opinions
I think it’s been a blessing in disguise to be so close to people utilizing AI because it’s forced me to learn how to communicate my feelings about it in a nonconfrontational way.
I might have strong opinions regarding the technology, but that doesn’t mean one of my best friends needs a lecture from me for asking ChatGPT to show her how to add more protein to her diet. I’d rather listen to her tell me excitedly about the week of dinners she’s looking forward to because I just love listening to her.
Whether or not I’m using AI in my day-to-day life is irrelevant to our friendship unless she asks for my direct opinion on it.
What’s more, not wanting to disrespect my friends’ decisions to use AI has helped me communicate my own feelings more thoughtfully, taking everyone’s feelings into account. It doesn’t mean I agree with it or that I’m going to start using it.
I’m still pretty resistant to the technology, but I’m even more resistant to making anyone who uses it feel bad about it.
