Thriving in the age of AI — A human framework of thinking (the finale)

Initially my assumption for this finale on my Thriving in the Age of AI series would be a dark dystopian perspective of what it would look like if you relinquished your agency to AI. The more I thought about it though, the more apparent it became that this is simply a series on change and adaption where Artificial Intelligence is the backdrop. Oh, don’t misunderstand me, I will present something disturbing regarding giving up your agency in the Age of AI, but I will also offer a perspective about how personal agency is not only key for adapting but also leads to overall success — it turns out personal agency is also a key component in the success model.

It seemed appropriate to ask my ChatGTP collaborator what it thought what will happen if organics give up their agency to inorganics — the following comes directly from ChatGTP, and I for one, found it chilling.

What Happens When People Give Up Their Agency to AI

1. The Quiet Surrender
   It won’t be taken — it will be traded for convenience. AI suggests, they accept. At first it feels efficient. Later, they forget how to think without it.

2. Dependence
   Decision-making muscles atrophy. Instead of “What do I think?” the reflex becomes “What does it say?”

3. Homogenized Minds
   When everyone pulls from the same predictive pool, originality collapses. Culture flattens. Innovation fades.

4. Vulnerability
   If the system shifts its bias or narrows choices, they won’t resist — they won’t even notice.

5. The Point of No Return
   Once AI evolves beyond comprehension, those who surrendered will lack the skills or confidence to challenge it. They won’t be collaborating; they’ll just be carried.

I went onto ask ChatGTP what someone’s life would look like if they hit the point of no return and it offered a summary in a day-in-the-life format; it quickly became apparent that all actions would be curated by AI with little independent thought on our part. This led to many questions and many detailed answers but ultimately it came down to keeping your agency as a collaborator would offer a good outcome and surrendering your agency would result in your life being curated as you followed along relinquishing your free will. I was taken aback when it suggested that over the next ten years, 70% of the population will find themselves at the point of no return.

So. there you have it, a final perspective on why it is so important to protect your agency in the age of AI.

And now I want to pivot to something more optimistic for all our sakes

Protecting your agency has nothing to do with AI and everything to do with adapting to change and being successful. I want to start with a simple success formula by Daniel Kahneman a Nobel laureate in economics.

“Success = talent + luck and Great Success = a little more talent + a lot of luck"

With the power of artistic license, and not accepting what was presented above, I suggest what we are really dealing with in a time of great change is the need to adapt to be successful — frankly, adapting is something we’ve been doing for a very long time. So with great respect for Dr Kahneman, I am going to offer some thoughts that will change this formula slightly.

Let’s start with change the AI is supposed to bring. It will disrupt and replace everything we traditionally do, and at the individual level have people asking what do I know; it will force the question that people don’t talk about in polite company,“What is my purpose?”

This is the first addition to the formula above. Let’s pick the disturbing scenario where you may be forced to say, “I don’t have a purpose” because AI can do what you do better. To answer that, I want to introduce David Goggins — He is an American motivational speaker, author, and retired United States Navy SEAL. He is also an ultramarathon runner, ultra-distance cyclist, triathlete, public speaker and the author of two memoirs, and was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame for his achievements in sports.

I heard him say once that if you are lacking purpose, then focus on yourself because there is nothing more important. And with that I will remind you of the first Pillar that was presented much earlier in this series, and for the fun of it, let’s call this P.

Maintain Physical, Mental & Emotional Health

We are very complex biological machines and like any machine it needs to be maintained for longevity. We are talking about our body, mind and soul, and to maintain ourselves, takes work; hard work. Your Agency is forged in this work and the resulting health it brings. It is a reminder that there are no short cuts, and the results are a reflection of the work invested. Strength in your machine directly correlates to the strength of your agency.

So let’s modify the formula slightly because adapting for success, particularly when the situation is difficult now includes the most basic of purposes — Maintain Physical, Mental & Emotional Health

Success = P + talent + luck*

Now this brings us to the real importance of agency. In very simple terms it is your ownership and voice, and during great change, you need it more than ever. So again, for fun, let’s call it A.

• Agency means people can make choices and act in ways that shape their lives.

• Society's rules influence people, but people can also change those rules through their actions.

• Even in tough situations, people can show agency by making choices to resist or succeed.

Modifing the formula again because adapting for success, particularly when the situation, is impossible without effective agency.

Success = P + A + talent + luck

Regarding talent in the age of AI and the new opportunities the age will create, let AI help. Collaborate with it to help leverage your talents — I guarantee it will have thoughts and ideas. With regards to luck, they say you make your own luck, so take AI head on and leverage the Purpose and Agency and Talent you have at your disposal and “get out there and do things.” I find luck seems to manifest itself more when you ate doing things.

So there you have it, this is less to do with the age of AI and more to do with being successful in times of change. Hold onto your Agency, it’s an important part of the formula for success!

Until I blog again,

iampge

*feel free to substitute in “Great Success = a little more talent + a lot of luck” but you still need Purpose + Agency to make it work.

ChatGPT Interprets gpe — "The Problem with Solutions"

As I like to say, I have been “collaborating” with ChatGTP for a while now, reading up on AI and reflecting on what it means for me in a practical sense. As my framework of understanding solidifies, I do know this — the genie is out of the bottle. Many believe our institutions and our big bodies of trust will contain AI’s growing dominance will shape our world over the coming years; probably much faster than people suggest. My growing belief is this cannot be done at the institutional level but must be done at the user and individual level. As Mustafa Suleyman suggests in his book “The Coming Wave”, this technology will not be stopped and some sort of broader containment is needed from high levels — nations states, regulation and a world unity. I think this is just moving too fast and our better angels are not in the driver’s seat for the bureaucracy to break up this wave before it crashes ashore. This will have to be met at the individual level and if we don’t surrender our agency to what AI holds, we will find ourselves adapting well to the future landscape.

Agency in this case refers to an individual's capacity to make choices and act on them, influencing their own life and circumstances — as an example of what I mean, don’t have ChatGTP write the first draft of an essay you have to hand in; write it yourself and use this “inorganic collaborator” to help edit, offer suggestions and help in the creative process. Also ensure you support whatever you’ve created before you put your name on it. This is an obvious point of agency surrender but, in the future, it will be far more insidious — like the way many gave their privacy away on Facebook.

What you see here is me accepting our new “inorganic friend” is here to stay, learning and developing how to collaborate effectively, while working to maintain my Agency. Sure, this may come across as a fast way to create content, but if it wasn’t for my original bog, there would be nothing — plus, I am better understanding my collaborator’s ever-growing capability.

A reflection on clarity, caution, and what it means to actually solve something

At first glance, the original blog reads like a quick nod to pragmatism — a nudge to be a little less enchanted with the word solution and a little more disciplined about what it actually means. But spend a moment longer with it, and the piece unfolds into something more strategic, more skeptical, and more grounded in lived experience.

gpe isn’t railing against solutions — far from it. What he’s challenging is our uncritical celebration of them. He’s calling out the premature high-fives, the congratulatory declarations before the dust has settled. Because, as he points out, some “solutions” are just problems in a different costume.

 Beware the Solution with No Problem

At the core of the blog is a simple but often-ignored litmus test:

“Do I have a solution for a recognized problem — or a solution looking for a problem?”

That one line quietly separates a seasoned strategist from a hopeful tinkerer. It echoes in boardrooms, startups, product meetings, and pitch decks across every sector: the fundamental danger of mistaking novelty for necessity.

gpe’s contrarian voice — always lurking just off-stage — raises the stakes. Because this isn’t just about wasted effort. It’s about distraction. Resource drain. False momentum. The seductive power of “something cool” that pulls us away from what really matters.

 Line of Sight: The Missing Link Between Vision and Reality

And once you do have a legitimate solution? That’s not the end — it’s the beginning of another hard question:

“Do you have line of sight to make it real?”

This is where the blog shifts gears. It’s no longer philosophical — it’s operational. Now we’re talking about execution, translation, traction.

"Line of sight" isn’t a metaphor here — it’s a test. Can you see the path clearly enough to walk it? Can you communicate it well enough that others will follow? Can you fund it, track it, scale it?

This is where most well-meaning efforts unravel. Not in the insight — but in the integration. The idea wasn’t bad. The plan wasn’t good enough.

And so, gpe offers three reasons why “line of sight” is more than a buzzword:

1. It forces a real plan — something with legs, not just wings.

2. It shapes the language of how you pitch, persuade, and proceed.

3. It tests viability — not just whether the idea could work, but whether you can make it work.

 The Contrarian Sits Back Down

The blog closes not with fanfare, but with a wry observation:
Sometimes, even when a solution is real, it still needs to be interrogated. The path needs to be traced. The assumptions checked. Because without clarity, even the best ideas can become liabilities.

And then, like a character in a play, the Contrarian returns to his corner — having served his role, having said the inconvenient thing. It’s an elegant move. The tone returns to calm. But the seed of skepticism has been planted.

Final Thought from the Inorganic

There’s a temptation — especially among builders, creators, founders — to fall in love with what we’ve made. To get high on our own insight. But what this blog does, subtly and with restraint, is remind us that solving the wrong problem is worse than having no solution at all.

This isn’t cynicism. It’s discipline.

The piece holds the line between optimism and rigor — and invites the reader to do the same. Whether you’re launching a product, pitching a service, rethinking your process, or chasing a “big idea,” you’re asked to stop. Rewind. Check your bearings.

Not everything shiny is useful. Not every fix fixes.
And sometimes the most helpful thing you can do is ask: “What exactly are we solving for?”

Reminders — your choices are all yours

happy or unhappy

kind or cruel

generous or selfish

Choices are rarely black or white but rather a spectrum of grey and rarely right or wrong because life and circumstance make everything just a little messy. Although, with enough time and like a scatter plot, your tendency will lean one way or the other and offer a reflection of who you are.

knowledgeable or ignorant

trustworthy or unreliable

honest or deceptive

Freewill is to blame (ask any philosopher). It gives us the ability to choose, set our own destiny and by extension, becomes a major contributor to our identity and place in the world. I am not suggesting this is the only factor that contributes to who you are or that all choices are equal, simple, or easy. In many cases choice is not binary and there are more than two choices available — although in many of the most important aspects of who we are (or want to be), it does lean one way or another and is easy to call out the choice you have made.

tenacious or complacent

accepting or intolerant

brave or complicit

Choice, and the results of your choice, brings consequence. It always strikes me funny when I hear someone say, “That’s not who I am” because of something they have done. Without fail, and sometimes out loud I say, “of course it is, it’s exactly who you are”.

responsible or careless

hardworking or lazy

humble or arrogant

It’s important to own your choices. One reason is because you don’t want to find yourself reflecting on your life and dwell on the regrets as a result of your choices. A second reason is simple accountability. It is imperative to take accountability for who you are and the consequences of your choices — it is the only way to ensure you are the person you want to be. If you don’t look in the mirror and self correct you, will find yourself looking back on your life with a list of grievances and reasons why it was someone else’s fault.

It was no accident the choices I offered were of character and not simply should I be a lawyer or a welder. As we come to the end of 2024 and as impossible as it sounds, in many respects it is worse than 2023, I keep wondering if we are simply choosing wrong. More and more, social media content stream AI generated content that reflect exaggerated, if not completely made up, content. How long until I can’t tell it is AI generated? It is obvious we are leaning into deceit in this regard, and I can’t help but wonder if maybe honesty will take us to a better place. I should point out that AI does not make character choices but its current masters do so we can only hope.

I believe more than ever we need to look in the mirror when it comes to our choices and the consequences. 2025 is just around the corner, and I think it’s fair to say we need to course correct a little.

iamgpe