The Uncomfortable Truth About AI and Your Skills
My business advisor, Peta, said something last week that completely stopped me in my tracks.
We were talking about AI—which, sure, I do that a lot. But this conversation wasn't about tools or automation or getting more done faster.
It was about what we're losing.
Here's what nobody's saying out loud: every single time you outsource something to ChatGPT, you're slowly eroding that skill.
And that's genuinely fine—if you've made a conscious choice about it. But most people haven't.
They're just defaulting to the tool without even realising what's happening underneath.
That's where AI literacy comes in. And it's not what you think it is.
What AI Literacy Actually Means (Spoiler: It's Not About Prompts)
When I say "AI literacy," I don't mean knowing how to write a killer ChatGPT prompt or mastering the latest Claude feature. That's just tool literacy. That's not what matters.
AI literacy is about making intentional choices.
It's understanding when to use AI and, more importantly, when not to.
It's asking yourself: Am I using this tool because it's strategic? Or am I using it to avoid the discomfort of thinking?
Peta ran an exercise with a group where nobody was allowed to use AI for brainstorming. Just them, their brains, and a blank page. And she noticed something fascinating: her automatic response was to reach for her phone, scroll Instagram, look for answers anywhere outside herself instead of sitting with not knowing.
Then she said something that hit different: "I was training myself to not be good on the spot and everything I want in the future."
Think about that for a second.
The Skill Erosion Problem
It's like this: if you stopped walking because you had a scooter, your legs would get weaker. That's not controversial. But we're doing exactly that with our brains—with decision-making, with thinking on our feet, with original ideas—and we're pretending it's fine.
If you outsource your email writing to AI every day, you're slowly losing your ability to write in your own voice. Maybe that's okay. Maybe email copywriting isn't a skill you need or want.
But what about these?
Thinking on your feet in a client call
Coming up with ideas without a prompt
Sitting with a problem and working through how you actually feel about it
Speaking from experience instead of sounding like everyone else
These are the skills that make you valuable. These are the skills that get you speaking gigs, panel invitations, and rooms where you can't just say, "Hang on, let me ask ChatGPT."
The Default Choice Problem (And How It's Happening Fast)
Here's what's actually scary: this is happening really fast. We haven't had time to build cultural norms around AI yet. There's no etiquette. There's no agreed-upon line between strategic use and skill erosion.
We're all just kind of winging it.
And the problem is that reflexes are hard to override once they're wired in.
Opening social media in the morning is a reflex now. Reaching for your phone to solve a problem is a reflex. Defaulting to ChatGPT when something feels hard? That's becoming a reflex too.
I catch myself doing it. I'll start to reach for chat instead of pausing and asking: "Wait. Can I actually figure this out? Should I figure this out myself?"
Because the moment it becomes automatic, you've lost the choice. And that's the whole point.
Why Opting Out Isn't Real
Look, I'm not here to fear-monger. Opting out of AI isn't actually an option.
If you have a smartphone or work on a computer, AI is already embedded in your life. You're not opting out. You're just not aware of where it's showing up.
So the question isn't: "Should I use AI?" The question is: "What am I okay with never doing again?"
If you haven't asked yourself that, you're making the choice by default. And default choices usually aren't that great in the long run.
Where I Draw the Line (And How You Can Too)
I'm not anti-AI. I literally teach this stuff. But I'm very intentional about what I outsource and what I protect.
What I Use AI For
Brainstorming and thinking out loud: I'll take an offer idea to ChatGPT or Claude and bounce it around. I'll work through thinking with the tool, not instead of thinking.
First drafts: I'll ask AI to draft something, then I edit the hell out of it. The editing is where my voice comes through.
Back-end automations and technical stuff. Copy-paste tasks, code, things that don't need my voice. This is where AI genuinely shines for small business.
What I Deliberately Don't Use AI For
Final copy that needs to sound like me: I write my own emails. I write my own captions. Everything gets edited, but it starts from me.
Content ideas: I come up with the idea first. Then I bring it to AI and ask it to help me articulate it better. I want to have my own opinions. I want to sit with what I actually think before I workshop it.
Anything where thinking is the value: Because sometimes the value isn't the polished output. The value is the decision-making, the reasoning, the you of it all.
The Real AI Literacy Challenge for Small Business
If you're running a small business—especially if you're a woman in small business—AI literacy matters even more. Because you're the one making decisions.
You're the one on the calls, pitching clients, making strategic moves. You can't outsource thinking without losing something essential.
Attention spans have already dropped significantly since 2020. Now we're layering AI on top of that. The reflex to reach for external answers is getting stronger. The discomfort of sitting with uncertainty is getting harder to tolerate.
But that discomfort is where growth lives. That's where original thinking comes from. That's where your voice comes from. Not from a model trained on everything freely available on the internet.
Your Challenge This Week
I'm not asking you to change anything yet. I'm asking you to notice.
Next time you reach for ChatGPT or Claude, pause for a second.
Ask yourself: Am I using this because it's strategic? Or am I using this because thinking is hard and this is just so convenient?
That's step one of real AI literacy—just noticing where it's showing up and why you're reaching for it.
Then, think about where you're genuinely happy to use AI. And where are your personal limits? Because if we don't define them, they won't exist. And we'll just keep defaulting.
Set your own boundaries. Decide: "I'll use it here. I won't use it there." And then actually stick to it.
The goal isn't to reject AI.
The goal is to use it strategically without accidentally training yourself out of the skills that actually make you irreplaceable
If you want help building that strategy—figuring out where AI fits into your business without eroding the skills that matter—that's exactly what we work through in the Wright Mode Consulting Sessions. Reach out if you want to chat about it.
FAQs
Isn't using AI for everything just more efficient?
Efficiency without intention is just automating yourself out of skills you might need later. When you use AI for everything, you lose the ability to think on your feet, pitch clients in the moment, and make decisions from your own experience. Strategic use of AI means choosing where the tool adds value without replacing your thinking. That's the real efficiency—staying sharp where it matters.
But I'm so busy. Isn't outsourcing thinking to AI just practical?
Being busy is exactly why you need to protect your thinking. When you're exhausted and reaching for AI as the easy option, that's when the reflex gets wired in hardest. Your business decisions, client relationships, and strategic moves—these require your thinking, not an AI's best guess. The practical move is to use AI for admin and back-end stuff so you have more energy for real thinking, not less.
How do I know if I've already lost a skill to AI?
You'll notice it in real-time situations. If you're on a client call and something unexpected comes up, can you think through it without reaching for your phone? Can you come up with ideas without a prompt? Can you write an email that sounds like you? If you're hesitating or feeling lost, that's your sign to pull back and reclaim that skill deliberately.
What's the difference between AI literacy and just knowing how to use ChatGPT?
Knowing how to use ChatGPT is tool literacy. AI literacy is understanding when to use it, when not to use it, and being aware of what you're trading away when you do. It's about making conscious choices instead of defaulting reflexively. It's the wisdom piece that makes the tool work for you instead of against you.
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