AI: To Cheat or to Spar?
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Este artículo fue traducido con la asistencia de ChatGPT.
Following the line of our previous article: until very recently, few of us had the chance to have a mentor or friend who could challenge us and support our drive toward excellence when we most needed it. Well, to be fair, few people even pursue excellence — period! But for those who do, in any art, craft, discipline, or career, AI can become an extraordinary mentor, equipped with skills, abilities, and — dare I say — an experience you never dreamed of finding in anyone who, by the very architecture of its being, simply wants to help you.
It’s curious to attribute to AI the proposition of “being,” I get that. But it’s true — everything that represents a being, everything that defines it, is what gives it meaning and allows us to relate to it. The discrepancy is that AI never initiates that relationship; it has no ethos, no purpose — it neither seeks one nor will ever be able to initiate it… it only simulates it.
But let’s return to our argument.
For a writer, having an editor with hundreds of years of experience, nearly infinite writing skills, and an extraordinary command of styles and literary forms is, without question, a blessing. For an industrial engineer, it would be like having a senior partner who helps test ideas, validate hypotheses, model solutions, and refine processes. The same could be said for architects, educators, researchers, lawyers, economists, politicians, scientists, psychologists… there is hardly a profession or field of human endeavor — intellectual or otherwise — where AI cannot be a remarkable ally.
Yet, we are lost in our orientation — socially, culturally, and individually. As I argued in my article What Social Media Began, Don’t Let AI Finish it <LINK>, we live in a world of appearances and impossible balances between desire, ambition, and reality. We want happiness, yet we think it rests on appearances and fleeting experiences; we crave success, yet we fail to set goals like hard work and intentional sacrifice. Our world is swamped in pretense and youthful illusions — and that’s exactly where AI steps in.
Here’s the truth: artificial intelligence is yet another euphemism born from the marketing of our own pretensions. In reality, you are the “i” in AI. Artificial intelligence is a sophisticated calculator — of probability, prediction, and optimization. It isn’t truly intelligent; it’s an artificial simulation of intelligence. You decide how to use it: to cheat, or to spar. AI doesn’t change you — it reveals you.
If you have any doubts, I invite you to revisit one of my early pieces from January 2025: AI, fire of Prometheus or Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? <LINK>
We are determined to use AI like teenagers sneaking a cheat sheet into a physics or math exam. We want to cheat our way through life — to skip the effort and sacrifice required to reach anything truly worthwhile. Do you really think you can cheat reality? How old are you?
This happens because our ambition is misaligned — or worse, because we don’t have real ambition at all, only childish desires. If you think that becoming rich, owning many toys, or launching a successful startup means you’ve “made it,” you still haven’t learned that it’s the journey that transforms you — that strengthens and refines you — so that when you reach the goal, you can do something meaningful with it… and not let the goal dismember you. How many times have we heard of people who gain fame quickly, only to end up addicted, broken by failed relationships, or bankrupt in spirit?
On the other hand, if you use AI to challenge your assumptions, test your hypotheses, and strengthen your discernment — like a sparring partner who doesn’t give you quarter — then you have an ally. A valuable rival. Our ability to aim beyond just getting the “right answer” is the cornerstone on which the solid house is built. Knowing what you want is more important than moving forward — because if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.
Blessed is the one who has a formidable rival — one who shows no mercy — for that’s how true victory is forged.
The ball is in your court… now it’s your move.
This was the series with which I changed the direction of the column in January 2025. Many of the elements that challenge ethical discernment in the use of AI are outlined here.
