The Rise of AI Performers

The introduction of AI has collapsed learning.

That sounds dramatic, but it's not a criticism - it's a celebration.

We now have near-instant access to knowledge on virtually any topic. You can learn to write code, structure a strategy, analyse a data set, or draft a business case in minutes. The friction that once slowed us down has, in many ways, vanished.

But for some, learning hasn't just collapsed, it has evaporated. And in it's place has emerged something I'm going to call the AI Performer.

This is a person who simply regurgitates AI outputs without ever really learning what they mean and fully understanding them.

Performance without Understanding

As a human being, as you gain experience, as you fail - you gain expertise. But not only that, you gain confidence.

You develop an intuitive sense because you've seen it before. You know the shape of a problem, what it looks like, what it feels like. And crucially, you what what not to do simply because you've made that mistake before.

Those that rely too heavily on generative AI outputs, shortcut that entire process. The answers are at your fingertips before you've had the chance to fully define the problem, pull it apart, and get to it's core. You miss the struggle, the arc of confusion, trial and error, and self-discovery.

I'd be lying if I didn't admit myself that it's highly seductive to jump straight to a clean, polished output. But I also recognise its danger.

AI's power risks creating a world of performers. People who know a lot without really knowing anything. They sound smart, look smart but do they feel smart if they haven't fully earned their understanding? Again, I know the dangers because I've been there myself - petrified that if a subject went slightly off-piste I'd be exposed. It's a breeding ground for imposter syndrome.

Tools are not the Problem

To be clear: shortcuts aren't inherently bad. I'm by no means campaigning against the use of AI, exactly the opposite. I'm simply emphasising how we use it.

Humans have always used tools.

The calculator didn't kill maths - it changed it

The internet didn't kill memory - it shifted what we memorised.

Because crucially they didn't kill critical thinking.

A calculator can help us with mental arithmetic, but we still need to know what to calculate - what calculation to enter and how to apply the outputs. Likewise finessing the art of the internet required us to know what to search, how to look for it and, again, how to interpret and use the outputs.

AI should be the same. I use it daily. I'm constantly exploring new topics, drafting ideas, and testing assumptions with it. At a speed and scale that I've never been able to before. How do you think I planned out this article? But I pride myself on never publishing anything that I don't fully understand. The original purpose of my blog was simply to document my learning - if I find it interesting and useful, someone else probably will too. But the operative word is learning.

The moment we stop learning, we become parrots, we become performers.

So what's the Solution?

Go do something hard. And something original.

As anyone who knows how AI works is already familiar with, it's just a probabilistic model playing back the most likely correct answer.

So:

Build something that doesn't have a ready-made answer.

Design something that breaks once or twice before it works.

Take on a problem that ChatGPT gets wrong because it requires you to think beyond what it's seen before.

If AI can instantly regurgitate the full, final answer, maybe the problem isn’t the tool - it’s the scope of your ambition.

This isn’t a rejection of AI. Far from it.

But if we want to grow into experts, not just look like them, we have to earn it. And the confidence you'll get from the experience alongside the expertise, will be well worth it.