The AI Dilemma: Struggle or Shortcuts

“There is scarcely any passion without struggle.”― Albert Camus

"The idea that you can self reward the effort process is extremely powerful. Because what it means is that if you can recognize agitation, stress, and confusion as an entry point to where you eventually want to go, even just mental recognition can allow people to pass through it more easily." - Andrew Huberman

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”―Jim Rohn

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When my son was younger, like me, he was not very gifted at sports. Nonetheless, his school had a policy of giving every child a medal simply for participating in sports day. The idea behind it was well-intentioned: to encourage inclusivity and make sure no one felt left out. When he received that medal, there was no joy in his eyes. He took it, glanced at it for a moment, and tossed it aside. It held no value for him. It was a meaningless trinket that hadn’t been earned. I was glad he didn't value it, because he did not earn it.

Years later, after spending countless hours training and competing in jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts, he deservedly won his first ever medal. The smile on his face said it all. This time, his appreciation of the medal was different. It wasn’t just something handed to him for showing up; it was the result of effort, setbacks, and perseverance. That medal was forged in struggle and that gave it meaning.

This difference between the participation medal and his earned medal isn’t just about sports. It’s a lesson about struggle, ownership, and growth. And today, in a world of artificial intelligence, we’re in danger of losing touch with that lesson.

The AI Dilemma

"There is a cosmic law which says that every satisfaction must be paid for with a dissatisfaction."— G.I. Gurdjieff

“Boredom?is not just boring. It can also be terrifying. It forces us to come face-to-face with bigger questions of meaning and purpose. But?boredom?is also an opportunity for discovery and invention. It creates the space necessary for a new thought to form, without which we’re endlessly reacting to stimuli around us, rather than allowing ourselves to be within our lived experience”- Anna Lembke

Today, we see more people relying on AI to do the heavy lifting for them. It’s fast, efficient, and often eliminates the need to engage with hard problems. However, when you bypass the struggle, you also bypass the learning and the deeper connection to the result. Oscar Wilde said, "A fool is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." In the same way, while AI may offer quick solutions, it strips away the value of the journey—the very thing that makes the outcome meaningful.

Historian, Yuval Noah Harari explains, we must pass through a desert of boredom to achieve anything worthwhile. It’s in that space—when you're forced to grapple with monotony, frustration, and discomfort—that learning happens. That’s when neural pathways are laid down and skills are truly internalised. Without persevering through this struggle, there is no ownership, and without ownership, there is no deeper learning.

As a college professor, I worry about this specific impact of AI. When students outsource the struggle of thinking, the hard work and the accompanying agitation, they no longer exercise the thinking muscle and as with any muscle, it will atrophy.

Neuroscientists are beginning to uncover how the act of writing shapes our brains. Studies have shown that writing by hand, in particular, activates a complex network of brain regions, including the caudate nucleus, an area associated with higher-level learning, planning, and memory. This area shows increased activity in the brains of professional writers compared to novice writers, suggesting that the practice of writing strengthens these cognitive functions. While scientists are still unraveling the full extent of writing's impact on cognition, it's clear that the physical act of forming letters and words engages the brain in a unique way , potentially fostering deeper processing and encoding of information.

In a world increasingly dominated by keyboards and touchscreens, the decline of handwriting raises concerns about the potential consequences for our cognitive abilities. This concern aligns with the growing awareness of 'digital dementia,' a term coined to describe the potential for technology overuse to negatively impact cognitive functions like memory, attention, and critical thinking. While the term itself is debated, the underlying concern is valid: Could our increasing reliance on digital devices, coupled with the ease of AI-generated text, lead to a weakening of these crucial neural pathways?

Further research is needed to fully understand the long-term implications, but it's possible that the decline of writing, in conjunction with other factors associated with excessive technology use, could contribute to a decline in our cognitive capabilities.

The Organizational Struggle: Strategy Without Ownership

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”― Thomas Paine

This same dynamic plays out in organizations. When a strategy is handed down from consultants or the C-suite, it might be sound on paper, but the teams tasked with executing it often feel disconnected. They didn’t go through the struggle of creating it, and as a result, they don’t fully own it.

Internalisation is the key to creativity and innovation, and internalisation requires emotional connection. As recent guest of The Innovation Show , my friend Peter Compo said, "When people struggle through the design process, and if they are heard and hear others, then it becomes their design—the people’s design. Not only will they have internalised it, but they will also have an emotional investment in the chosen framework, loving it and preaching it."

The struggle is where the magic happens. When people grapple with a problem, bend forward with rejected ideas, and push through frustration, something valuable is being built. They become invested. The failures along the way aren’t roadblocks; they’re stepping stones to something better.

In many ways, it mirrors what we see in sports, like my own and now my son’s journey in jiu-jitsu. If you skip the hard work and go straight to the medal, you may have a veneer of success, but it won’t carry the same weight. When people are engaged in the process, when they fight for ideas and overcome obstacles, they don’t just achieve a result—they own it.

It's in the desert of boredom and struggle where we lay down the neural pathways of success. To achieve anything of value, we must be willing to endure it, not shortcut it.

I am certainly struggling with many demons and agitations with the creation of?The Reinvention Summit . Nothing worthwhile comes without such a struggle. I studied Albert Camus in College and he nailed it, ““There is scarcely any passion without struggle.”?Many great people are joining us in Dublin next April 29th and 30th, both speakers and participants. Many teams are bringing their senior teams and using it as an offsite. It will just be the best offsite ever! If you are an Innovation Show listener and you come, please let me know and I will have a special innovation show goodie bag for you.

The Summit will include panels, workshops, art, firesides, networking, a HBR press collaboration and an AI lab.?

I would love you to come, for groups over 10 let me know and we will give you a bespoke coupon code.

https://www.thereinventionsummit.com

The latest episode of The Innovation Show is with professor emerita of linguistics at American University in Washington, D.C. and author of "Who Wrote This?: How AI and the Lure of Efficiency Threaten Human Writing", Naomi S. Baron.

For an episode on Struggle check out, "The Gift of Struggle" with Bobby Herrera