The Cult of AI: Why Questioning the Hype Makes You a Better Practitioner

Monday Pondering + Pleading + a little Preachin time: I grew up in a high-control religious space, and one of the things I noticed at an early age is how dangerous questions (and especially, criticism) to the status quo are. Curious, inquisitive, innocent observations of contradictions, etc… they so often in high control spaces are viewed as a threat. One should not question the status quo, and this comes from (ironically) a deep place of internal doubt on the person who feels criticized by the question.

Please hear me now: This has been nearly my identical experience with the overall culture of AI, and it's why I keep asking questions and making observations or suggesting caution. I so often hear this when I'm talking to people: "I know you are an anti-AI guy Kirk" or "I thought you were anti-AI"? (to be clear, I don't state this in a negative way towards you AT ALL if we've had this conversation. I haven't taken it personally, it's been more a data point and a curiosity to me).

I guess this is where my (loving) caution comes in, and that's: if you find yourself unable to hear criticism or curiosity about AI without immediately positioning the individual who uttered the question as "anti-AI" then you might be unintentionally taking on a cult-like mentality. I know that's hard to hear because none of us want to feel like we can be duped, but gosh, the revolution of AI has been so fast, consuming, and offers HOPE.

What turns a belief into unwavering loyalty, is because the people in it have experienced something amazing! So they begin to sift out questions or personal doubt or curiosity. I have never been against AI or progress. I find great value for AI as a tool, and I think it is a life-changing event in our world and industry and there are incredible ways we can use this tool. In fact, I've written about how ZATO actually uses AI in our own work, because I want to be clear that curiosity and caution are not the same as opposition.

Am I concerned with the ramifications of AI, especially AGI as it pertains to human thriving? Yes.

Do I think many bullish AI people are building tools that will end up not actually accomplishing the profit-scaling things they believe? Also, Yes.

Do I have concerns about, and want to figure out how we do this in an ethical, sustainable way? Yes.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't keep building… but I do think it means we should be thinking about this well. I am building with AI. I believe this new world changing (positive in many ways) thing should be more than simply something we welcome unquestioningly as the savior of our profitability. We should be intrigued, and investigate, and use, but remain open and cautious and inquisitive. Some of the most important questions I've been sitting with lately connect directly to how autonomous agents make decisions in live accounts, and those questions deserve open conversation, not defensiveness.

So I guess my Monday pondering is that… let's leave the cult-like mentality of AI in the dust.

Let's use it, and post our love of it and how we're seeing its benefit… and then let's all consider the ways it falls short, and the ethical and legal concerns out there and keep developing it well together. I really think we need to figure this out as a culture sooner rather than later.

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