Are We Becoming Useless or Smarter With the Power of AI in 2026?

Hey. I’m back. Again. 

Ik I haven’t posted for a while now. But, honestly, it's not because I didn’t want to, but mostly because I’ve been running low on energy, ideas, motivation, and yes, personality. 

But weirdly enough, even when I stop writing, I still sonehow crave this space of mine. 

It’s that tiny corner of the internet where I hope someone like me is reading this, while stuck in corporate hustle, struggling with deadlines, and googling randomly on “how to multitask?”

Anyway, let's talk about what brought me here today!!

Well… scrolling LinkedIn for straight up 30 minutes, I realize 7 out of 10 posts are literally people talking about how AI is everywhere. 

The common posts I see now are like "Top 10 AI tools you need.""This prompt will save you 10 hours.""Stop using ChatGPT like this" etc etc. 

And irony? somewhere in between all that noise, we all quietly started doing the same thing: 

Emails? Written.

Ideas? Generated.

Presentations? Half-done already.

Replying to manager? All set to go.

And while that sounds super cool, here’s the part no one really talks about—

the more we rely on AI without thinking, the less we think at all.

And I’ve felt it myself. I think I’ve gotten so comfy with my AI Assistant doing half the heavy lifting, I’ve stopped exercising my own brain. Like, the creative muscle? It's lost, I have zero creativity left these days. My problem solving skills are down the gutter! 

It’s wild. I thought using AI would make me more productive, and yes, it kinda did, but it also made me super lazy.

The real issue isn’t AI. It’s how we’re using it.

Most of us aren’t using AI.

We're just… copy-pasting our way through work.

“Write this.” “Create that.” “Give me ideas.”

And whatever comes out, done, posted, sent.

No editing. No thinking.

That’s not productivity. That’s dependency.

And over time, that's how our unique voice starts fading and our creativity feels weaker. 

Because if we’re not thinking, we won't  be growing.

So What Do We Do Then? Just... STOP Using AI?

LOL, no. It's my ride-or-die, my unpaid intern. So, not happening.

But maybe, we should use it with a little more intention.

2026 has taught me one thing: there is a massive difference between leveraging AI and surrendering to it.

​We need to stop "blindly prompting." that lazy habit of hitting ChatGPT with a "write an article on...." and copy-pasting the first thing it spits out. That’s not being productive; that’s just being a courier for a bot. When we do that, we lose our unique perspective.

​To stay "smarter" than the machine, we have to treat AI as a co-pilot, not the driver. We have to be still the minds that grow a brand. We should be the ones who understand the "why" behind the "how."

​Automation is here to stay, but it doesn't have the soul or the strategy that you bring to the table. 

Use the tools to kill the boring tasks, but keep the thinking for yourself. 

The best results never come from the very first prompt. If the AI gives you something generic or "bot-like," don't settle for it. Follow up with something like: "That’s a good start, but Can you add more specific industry jargon from [Your Niche] and make the call-to-action less salesy?" 

Remember, you are the Editor-in-Chief; the AI is just your first-draft writer. 

You should be the one who decides when the work is actually "ready to go!"