Cate Hall, writing on Substack, suggested that a way to do hard things is to ask “What would someone 10x better do?” and then do it. Reading the post made me realize that agency – the belief that we can ‘just do it’ – is what holds most of us back from success.
I saw this play out again and again growing up in India in the 1980s. You were expected to do as you were told, to not question authority, to focus on getting credentials – degrees, membership of networks, family connections – to get ahead in life. I was lucky to have mentors who encouraged me to read and indulged my curiosity. But millions of kids weren’t so lucky. Who didn’t have anyone to talk to about books, art, movies, and… well… dinosaurs.
What’s forgotten in debates about AI replacing human creativity, taking jobs, or generating slop is that these models can act as expert mentors.
Don’t have anyone to help you with a presentation? Ask AI Simon Sinek to give you feedback. Thinking about how to live your life? Get AI Marcus Aurelius to talk to you about Stoicism. Never written a love letter? Maybe AI Jane Austen could help..
This democratization extends beyond learning into creation itself. Those who sneer at people creating Miyazaki-style images are practicing the same gatekeeping that once kept mentorship exclusive.
Yes, those profile images may seem trite, but they’re also gateways – introducing millions to the worlds of ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ and ‘Spirited Away.’ More importantly, they make it possible for anyone to create, explore, express…
People today have access to world-class mentors via AIs on their phones, regardless of whether they live in Boston or Baroda. These mentors may just be the catalyst to inspire a generation of young people to say, “I can do it.” To embrace agency and set themselves up to do impossible things.
Without gatekeepers, without credentials, without someone telling them what they can or cannot do.
PS – This image is an AI rendering of one of my favorite portraits of my daughter and our dog. Photography was also once looked down upon as “not really art”. Today, it remains one of my favorite hobbies and ways of creative expression.