AI is less of a tool and more of a partner
I hire Figma to draw squares and circles, and I trust they’ll be squares and circles 100% of the time. AI doesn’t work like that—and maybe it never will. In that sense, it’s not worth comparing AI to previous tools or technology at all. AI lacks the precision we’re used to. Like our own minds, it hallucinates. The smartest people in the world hallucinate too—that doesn’t invalidate their value or impact.
AI feels less like a tool and more like a collaborator. In my experience, it requires real interaction to feel natural, integrated, and useful. You need time to understand its thresholds and nuances. Actually trying something new takes dedication. Most people are still waiting for the perfect tutorial that promises wealth with zero effort.
AI isn’t a button you press to execute tasks. It’s closer to interacting with another human. Imagine designing a button with the fidelity and variability of touching a living being. Writing clear and precise requirements is a critical skill—and it will matter even more in the future.
The impact on my life so far
Career progression
AI made me wealthier during my time at Meta—roughly $100k over my last two years there. I’m an introvert. English isn’t my primary language. Performance reviews make me sick. Condensing a year of work into a few paragraphs—and hoping your manager represents it well—is hard and exhausting.
I always performed well at Meta, but once I started using AI to consolidate my work and frame it for impact, I consistently received “exceeds expectations,” which translated directly into higher stock and bonuses. I wasn't cheating. I did the work, consistently. AI helped with the performative layer that big companies demand—something I was never good at and never interested in becoming better at.
Side projects on steroids (aka coding)
It still feels like magic to go from an idea to a working piece of software in under an hour. Before tools like Claude Code, that same idea would take me weeks or months, even for small projects. Now imagine what happens when AI robots can execute ideas for humans. That unlock is going to be absurd.
Settle the mind
AI has helped me manage impostor syndrome. It acts like a partner—answering questions, challenging assumptions, and helping me think. I still do the work the same way I always have: obsessively, consistently, and with doubt. AI helps me outline big decisions, think through doubts more clearly, and plan actionable next steps.
Strategies I employ
Expertise is a great filter
If you’re not at least partially competent in a field, you won’t have the instinct to spot when AI is wrong—or when it’s genuinely helping. Expertise doesn’t become obsolete; it becomes the filter. Trusting AI is easier when you have real domain knowledge.
Ask AI to ask you questions
The best way I’ve found to keep LLMs on track is writing clear, specific requirements. Still, blind spots always exist. Prompting AI to ask clarifying questions reduces assumptions and catches missed details. It also trains you to think through edge cases you’d ignore.
Use at least two AI systems
Running the same prompt across different models may help to surface hallucinations. It also reduces exposure to the biases of a single company. If anything, you'll get a different point of view or different wording.