Path 1 of 5

I’m worried about AI and my work.

You don’t have to out-run the machines to keep your place at work. What matters is that you stay the person who checks the work and makes the final call.

Two-minute read
One check this week
Nothing you do here is saved or sent

What’s true

The tools are fast. The judgment is still yours.

AI tools are good at drafting, summarizing and spotting patterns in what already exists. What they don’t know is your customers, your colleagues, or what it will cost if an answer is wrong. That knowledge is yours, and it’s why your judgment still matters.

Stuart has argued for that balance since long before today’s AI tools. In 1999, in an InfoWorld column he wrote with Joel Scambray about automated security tools, he warned IT teams not to use that automation to displace human insight.

One check this week

Do one task twice.

Pick a task you already do well, such as writing a summary, answering an email or putting together a first draft.
Give the same task to the AI tool you already use. Leave out private details, such as names, client information or anything confidential.
Read its answer slowly, line by line. Write down one thing it got right, and one thing it missed or got wrong that only you would have caught, because you know the people and the situation.

That second note points to the part of your work that a tool can’t do for you. Get clear on what it is, and talk about it with your manager or your team, so the people you work with can see it too.

About 15 minutes

In Stuart’s words

“The future isn’t about humans versus AI, it’s about humans with AI.”
Stuart McClure · The Creative Generalist: Thriving in the AI Era · ATD blog · 25 August 2025

Next step

The story · Chapter V

The Human System

The chapter of Stuart’s story that explains why his newest work is about people and how they make decisions, not only about code.

Library shelf

“Will AI take my job?”

Stuart’s talks and writing about how to use AI well in your work, gathered on one shelf of the Library.

On wethos.ai

Try Stu’s Twin

An AI model of how Stuart thinks, built and run by WethosAI, the company he co-founded and leads. You can ask it what worries you about AI and your work; its answers come from the model, not from Stuart himself.