I keep thinking about how familiar all of this feels. When the internet was first becoming part of our everyday lives, people were excited, but they were also nervous. VERY nervous. We worried about everything. Would employees spend all day searching the web instead of working? Would kids stop going to the library? Would people just sit around playing games? Would privacy disappear? Would we even know what was true anymore?
And then, of course, there was Y2K.
I remember the anxiety around that. People wondered if computers would crash, banks would fail, planes would fall out of the sky, and the whole world would come to a stop because the year changed from 1999 to 2000. It sounds almost funny now, but at the time it felt very real. We did not fully understand the technology, so our imaginations filled in the blanks.
In many ways, AI feels like that same kind of moment.
We are amazed by it. We are suspicious of it. We are curious. We are cautious. Some people are ready to jump in with both feet, and others want nothing to do with it. Most of us are probably somewhere in the middle, trying to figure out what it means and how much of it we actually want in our lives.
So how is Ai going to change our future and has it already?
It is easy to talk about artificial intelligence like it belongs in some far-off world, but honestly, it has already slipped into everyday life in ways that are both amazing and a little unsettling. Sometimes I am impressed, cautious or just plain surprised at what it can do.
And maybe that is where most of us are right now. We are not fully rejecting it, but we are not blindly trusting it either. We are learning how to live with it.
Here are a couple ways in which it has impacted my life.
Let’s start with my art. When I am painting abstracts, there are times when I get stuck. Anyone who creates anything knows that feeling. You stare at it too long. You turn it sideways. You walk away. You come back. You paint over it. You think, “Is this done, or is this a disaster?”
Recently I asked AI for an opinion. Not because I want it to paint for me. That would take all the joy out of it. But sometimes I want another set of eyes, even if those “eyes” happen to be artificial.
Most of the time, I do not use much of what it suggests. But that is not really the point. What it does do is open up possibilities. It may suggest a color combination I had not thought about, or ask a question that makes me look at the piece differently. Sometimes that little nudge is enough to get me unstuck.
To me, that is one of the more interesting parts of AI. It does not have to replace creativity. At its best, it can stir it up.
Healthcare is another place where AI surprised me.
The first time my doctor asked if he could use AI to take notes during my appointment, I was taken aback. I remember thinking, “Wait a minute. Is this a good thing? Is it listening to everything? Will it understand what I mean? Will it clone my voice?”
But then I saw the report.
I have to admit, it nailed it. It did not just capture the basic facts. It picked up on the nuances of the conversation, the little details that can so easily get lost when someone is typing while also trying to listen. Instead of watching my doctor stare at a screen, I felt like he could actually pay attention to me.
That changed how I looked at it.
I also find myself asking AI about symptoms or medical questions more often than I expected. Now, let me be clear. I am not replacing my doctor with a chatbot, and I do not think anyone should. But AI can help me understand what questions to ask. It can explain medical terms in plain English. It can help me feel a little less lost before I walk into an appointment.
That is useful. But it also comes with responsibility. We still have to use common sense. We still need professionals. We still need to know when to stop searching, stop asking AI, and call the doctor.
And maybe that is not so different from the early internet days either. We had to learn that not everything online was true. We had to learn how to search better, how to question sources, and how to use the tool without letting the tool use us.
Then there is transportation, which still feels a little futuristic to me even though I have already experienced it.
Two years ago, I rode in a Waymo in Phoenix. I thought I would be nervous. I thought I would be sitting there stiff as a board, watching every turn and silently questioning every decision the car made.
Instead, I felt surprisingly safe. Comfortable, even. It even asked me what kind of music I wanted to listen to! It had me at that point!
It was one of those moments where you realize the future has arrived, but it did not announce itself with flashing lights. It just pulled up to the curb.
I could not help thinking about all the years I drove an hour and a half to work. An hour and a half! Each way! What could I have done with that time if the car had driven itself? I could have read, planned, answered emails, called a friend, or simply slept. I might have arrived at work less frazzled and arrived home with a little more patience left in me.
And of course, once we start talking about driverless cars, the next question is, “What’s next, flying cars?” At this point, I am not ruling anything out.
Education is another area where I think we are going to see huge changes. Actually, we already are.
At first, schools seemed to be fighting AI, and I understand why. Teachers were worried students would use it to cheat or avoid doing the hard thinking. That is a real concern. But now it seems many schools are realizing that AI is not going away, so the better question is: how do we teach students to use it well?
Young people need to understand AI. They need to know what it can do, what it cannot do, when to trust it, and when to question it. They need to learn how to use it for good instead of for bad. Because pretending it does not exist is not going to help anyone.
That was true with the internet too. We could worry that students would copy and paste information, or that workers would waste time online, or that people would disappear into games and distractions. And yes, some of that happened. But so did a lot of good. The internet changed how we learn, communicate, work, shop, travel, research, and stay connected. It opened doors we could not have imagined.
AI may do the same thing, but faster.
The real challenge is making sure AI supports learning instead of replacing it. A student can use AI to brainstorm ideas, explain a confusing topic, or practice writing. But they still need to think. They still need to wrestle with ideas. They still need to learn how to form their own opinions.
That is where teachers become even more important, not less.
Some of the bigger predictions about AI still feel hard to wrap my head around. AI helping scientists discover new medicines. AI changing the job market. AI creates music, writing, images, lesson plans, business ideas, and who knows what else. It is exciting, but it is also a little overwhelming and that is ok that we feel that way.
We do not have to pretend we are completely comfortable with all of it. I am not. I can be amazed by AI and still have questions. I can use it and still worry about how it might be misused. I can appreciate the convenience and still wonder what we might lose if we stop thinking for ourselves.
Maybe that is the balance we all need to find.
AI is a tool. A powerful one. Like any powerful tool, it can help or harm depending on how we use it. It can save time, but then we have to ask what we are doing with the time we saved. It can give us answers, but we still need to ask better questions. It can make life easier, but it should not make us less curious, less creative, or less human.
So when I think about AI and the future, I do not just picture robots, driverless cars, or computers doing everything for us. I picture myself standing in front of an unfinished painting, looking for one new idea. I picture my doctor looking me in the eye instead of typing through the appointment – which he does now! I picture sitting in the back of a car with no driver and realizing I will arrive at my destination with more spark and energy. I picture students learning how to use AI wisely, not just quickly.
The future of AI is not some far-off thing. It is already here, quietly working its way into our homes, schools, doctor’s offices, cars, and creative lives.
And possibly, we have been here before.
We worried about the internet. We worried about Y2K. We worried about people wasting time, losing skills, trusting bad information, and letting technology take over too much of our lives. Some of those worries were valid. Some still are. But we adjusted. We learned. We made mistakes, corrected course, and figured out how to make technology part of our world.
We managed to get through that.
And I believe we will manage to get through this too.
The question is not whether AI will change us.
It already is.
