The scarcest resource in AI is a positive vision for the future. Non-technical individuals can have an outsized impact by writing aspirational fiction. Stories like the movie 'Her' inspire developers and can steer the trajectory of the entire field, making imagination a critical skill.

Related Insights

As AI automates tasks and replicates knowledge, what remains fundamentally human is our personal narrative. The collection of experiences, memories, successes, and failures shaping who we are cannot be generated by AI, making authentic storytelling a core human differentiator.

Using AI to code doesn't mean sacrificing craftsmanship. It shifts the craftsman's role from writing every line to being a director with a strong vision. The key is measuring the AI's output against that vision and ensuring each piece fits the larger puzzle correctly, not just functionally.

People increasingly consume real-life events as passive entertainment. AI can economically enable mass-market interactive media where user choices create different outcomes. This could help teach that the future is contingent on our collective decisions, not a pre-written script to be watched.

The ability to effectively communicate with AI models through prompting is becoming a core competency for all roles. Excelling at prompt engineering is a key differentiator, enabling individuals to enhance their creativity, collaboration, and overall effectiveness, regardless of their technical background.

The challenge in using AI effectively is often prompt engineering, not model capability. A potential solution is a social platform where users can follow experts, discover their prompts, and be 'catalyzed' by others' creativity. This democratizes access to AI's full potential beyond one's own ingenuity.

True creative mastery emerges from an unpredictable human process. AI can generate options quickly but bypasses this journey, losing the potential for inexplicable, last-minute genius that defines truly great work. It optimizes for speed at the cost of brilliance.

Atwood argues AI fails at original writing because it lacks a singular human mind or "soul." It can mimic formulas but cannot create a genuine voice or understand core principles of storytelling, like the constraints of a dystopia where characters cannot simply leave.

In an age where AI can produce passable work, an educator's primary role shifts. Instead of focusing solely on the mechanics of a skill like writing, the more crucial and AI-proof job is to inspire students and convince them of the intrinsic value of learning that skill for themselves.

The overwhelming majority of AI narratives are dystopian, creating a vacuum of positive visions for the future. Crafting concrete, positive fiction is a uniquely powerful way to influence societal goals and guide AI development, as demonstrated by pioneers who used fan fiction to inspire researchers.

Despite AI tools making it easier than ever to design, code, and launch applications, many people feel stuck and don't know what to build. This suggests a deficit in big-picture thinking and problem identification, not a lack of technical capability.