Written by Jason Montoya. Posted in Organizing Systems.

Fear AI? This Is How I Think About the Unfolding AI Revolution

AI is rapidly integrating into the tools we use, and as a freelancer working with small business owners, I see it becoming a normal part of our workflows. I want to share a core idea about how I leverage AI and technology in my research, writing, and client projects.

Several years ago, I learned about chess master Garry Kasparov, a Russian Grandmaster and World Chess Champion from 1985 to 2000. He gained fame for playing against IBM computers, which eventually surpassed human players. In his TED Talk, Kasparov discusses this experience, highlighting the dynamic between working together versus going it alone.

He shares a crucial lesson.

"We must face our fears if we want to get the most out of our technology, and we must conquer those fears if we want to get the best out of our humanity. While licking my wounds, I drew inspiration from my battles against the machine. As the old Russian saying goes, 'If you can't beat them, join them.'"

This led Kasparov to an idea: What if he could play with a computer as an ally, combining their strengths? Human intuition plus machine calculation, human strategy plus machine tactics, human experience plus machine memory. Could this be the perfect game ever played?

His idea came to life in 1998 with "Advanced Chess," a human-plus-machine competition. Although the initial experiment in combining human and machine skills wasn't entirely successful, Advanced Chess found its home on the internet. In 2005, a "freestyle chess" tournament produced a revelation: The winners were not Grandmasters or supercomputers, but a pair of amateur American chess players operating three ordinary PCs. Their skill in effectively coaching their machines counteracted the superior chess knowledge of their Grandmaster opponents and the greater computational power of others.

This led Kasparov to a profound formulation.

"A weak human player plus a machine plus a better process is superior to a very powerful machine alone. But more remarkably, it is superior to a strong human player plus machine and an inferior process."

This means that while computers can beat humans, the most effective chess player is a human who works with a computer. Even an ordinary human with the right computer and the right process can beat a chess Grandmaster.

AI Collaboration is Key

This concept directly applies to AI. Some people will use AI, and some won't. The individuals who learn to collaborate and work with AI as a team will achieve the greatest success in this new era of evolving technology.

My goal is to leverage AI and integrate it into my workflows and life in a way that simply makes things better.

I think of it like Iron Man from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Iron Man doesn't have inherent superpowers like the Hulk, Thor, or Captain America. Instead, he leverages technology and AI to equip himself to do things he couldn't do otherwise, becoming much more powerful with it.