It has already become an everyday situation: at any gathering of friends, two people disagree about the same matter, whether it is the designation of origin of a wine or who directed which movie, until one of them pulls out their mobile phone and turns to the modern oracle, Artificial Intelligence. That query, which could perfectly have been a Google search (and therefore would have generated much less energy consumption), is the tip of the iceberg of what, for some time now, we have been told is not just another technological advance, but the beginning of a new era. A paradigm shift that will affect all aspects of our lives, starting with work.
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The World Economic Forum’s forecast is already well known, estimating that more than 90 million jobs will be destroyed with the development of this technology, but that another 170 million new positions related to it will be created. However, the changes are not only glimpsed in work but are beginning to extend to everyday matters such as sending a WhatsApp message.
Another increasingly common moment: you ask a friend if they are free on Friday night. Immediately after, you receive a response, but it is not written by the expected person, not even by a person. An AI agent, a software system designed to perform complex actions and interact with other programs and applications, informs you that your friend cannot respond at this moment, but that their schedule for that period is busy. Indeed, you have been stood up by a machine. It is already happening, and nothing seems to indicate it will stop. More and more people are turning to Artificial Intelligence solutions not only to save time on mechanical tasks at work but to manage domestic matters, from planning their schedule, preparing a trip, or, yes, responding on their instant messaging services.
This intrusion of AI into everyday life adds to the mistrust it has already generated in the workplace, reaching what American journalist Shona Ghosh has called “the era of AI FOMO.” The fear of missing out, that Anglo-Saxon expression to describe the feeling of being left out of something, of not understanding the prevailing conversation and therefore missing the train of the times, takes on new shades. In an article for Bloomberg, Ghosh focuses on people around her who explain how this technology allows them to save time and, in theory, makes their lives easier. “It’s my second brain,” one of her friends tells her, who uses it both to gather documents for tax returns and for bureaucratic procedures. The question Ghosh asks herself, and with which it is easy to empathize, is obvious: how do you train a second brain if managing your own is already complicated?
The AI train: what happens if you don’t get on?
That feeling of being out of the loop is not new, of course. Nor is it disinterested: any profound technological change creates that uncertainty, and opinions of all kinds emerge, from early adopters who predict a new era to skeptics who reject it outright. For Enrique Dans, professor of Innovation and Technology at IE Business School and an expert in technology and outreach, it is necessary to nuance those opposing positions. “The idea that those who do not adapt to AI miss the train is quite true, but also somewhat of a convenient simplification,” he points out. “We are not facing just another tool, but a technological layer that is integrating into practically any intellectual activity. That means that even in non-technical professions, its impact is transversal. Not knowing how to use it does not automatically make you irrelevant, but it does put you at a disadvantage compared to those who know how to use it. That said, the problem is not adapting to AI, but how to do it: if you use it to amplify your judgment, you win; if you use it to replace it, you become dispensable.”
The differentiation between the work and personal spheres, those two poles that are sometimes very difficult to separate, is important regarding the advance of AI in our lives. For Daniel Sánchez, founder of the tech startup Cycle Platform, the change in both areas is profound. “My work has led me to be very connected with technical profiles,” he explains. “Before, I depended 100% on a programmer or a team of engineers to make demos for brands or even for commercial matters, something that takes more time and is more expensive.” He began early to take an interest in AI and apply it to his daily work. “At some point, you see a way out for your needs and you start getting into it,” he recounts. “It has worked for me. A year ago, to do a specific task I might have needed two weeks, even three. Now I can do the same, or even more, in five hours, or a day at most.”
Something similar happened to Santiago Reina, who works in his own consulting company. “We use it for all tasks that do not generate added value: validating measurement results, checking compliance based on legislation, generating databases…” he details. “It is true that there is always a human review task, but everything related to information and mechanical work is done by AI. In reality, the people who should be afraid of AI right now are those who input data. But technicians, people who really generate added value, will continue to have value.” Reina estimates that using this technology can save him a full workday per week.
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In the workplace, Dans indicates, the impact is clear but not as catastrophic as some messages we receive. “Just as years ago it was assumed that any professional should know how to handle basic digital tools, it is now beginning to be assumed that they must know how to interact with AI systems,” he explains. “It is very likely that this trend will spread, but with nuances: not all sectors will adopt it at the same pace or with the same intensity. In some cases, it will be a competitive advantage; in others, it will simply become part of the minimum requirement.”
An AI entered my life
If changes in the professional environment can generate fear, when we talk about the impact of Artificial Intelligence on personal life, new questions and other types of concerns arise. “I work full-time and I am a sleep-deprived mother of a 19-month-old child,” Ghosh says in her article, wondering if she should use the little free time she has left to delve into the world of Artificial Intelligence and its numerous practical applications. An idea, that this technology requires specialized knowledge and training, about which Dans points out there is quite a bit of confusion. “The vast majority of users do not need to train anything,” he notes. “Current tools are designed precisely to eliminate that barrier: you just need to know how to pose a problem well or formulate a question with some sense. The entry cost is much lower than many believe. Another matter is learning to use them well, which does require practice, judgment, and above all, understanding what they can and cannot do. The step to agentic AI is very interesting and allows, among many other things, what we mentioned about training our own AI, but it will very likely be restricted to a not very large percentage of people.”
Santiago Reina puts forward something similar, more directly: “Whenever there is a change in knowledge management, the scaremongers appear,” he states. “In the workplace, there are people who will not be left behind, but the level of effectiveness and efficiency they will have, their level of productivity, will be lower.” He points to that fear of change and being outdated as a business opportunity for some. “There is a bit of myth-making about AI training and qualification. I think there are many snake oil salesmen, people for whom AI is not generating business per se, but who are finding business in training about it that, in many cases, is not strictly necessary. There is a kind of bubble that makes us think that prompts [the concise commands given to AI to adapt exactly to our needs] are the Coca-Cola formula.”
What does seem real is that those who start using Artificial Intelligence in their work activity end up finding applications for their personal life. “By mid-last year, I already started using it for personal matters, when the voice mode improved a lot,” recounts Daniel Sánchez, who gives a concrete example: “In my case, I have used it for stress management. For example, I have a bit of claustrophobia and, if I have to fly on a plane full of people, I notice it. Recently, I had an eight-hour flight and a few days before I created a conversation specifically for this and it helped me a lot. I already had a protocol to talk to the AI, steps I had to follow to control anxiety, and thanks to the mental unlocks it was indicating, it helped me.” In Santiago Reina’s case, it is a resource for other activities: “From trip planning to weather variables when I go somewhere, so the AI can give me a weather forecast. It is also the smart friend in meetings, and the peacemaker in case of a dispute,” he points out.
That intrusion of AI into everyday life, however, is not without risks. “It is dangerous if used for complex personal matters,” Sánchez points out. “In the end, it will always tend to agree with you.” Going a bit further, the phenomenon called cognitive surrender is already being discussed, the abandonment of critical thinking by leaving more and more issues in the hands of technology. “The line between using AI as a tool or becoming dependent on it is not technological but mental,” Dans points out. “If you delegate routine tasks to it to focus on what is important, it is an improvement. If you start delegating judgment, interpretation, or validation as well, it is a problem. Comfort is very addictive, and AI is designed to be comfortable. Judgment is not automated. And in an environment where answers are increasingly abundant, fast, and apparently reliable, the value is not in obtaining them, but in knowing what to do with them. That is the difference between those who use AI and those who surrender to it,” he concludes.
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