I was a high school student, doing high school student things. I was set to burst into the world, dominating through sheer exuberance and (baseless) confidence. And - critical to the story - I was also taking cello lessons at the local college campus. Being busy doing high school student things, I hadn't spent as much time practicing as my teacher thought I should, and my next scheduled session with him was that afternoon. I knew I wasn't ready, I knew I hadn't practiced, but full of the aforementioned exuberance and confidence, I knew I'd be fine and that he'd never know. I played the first page of a Chopin concerto, came to the end of the passage, and looked at him for feedback on what I was sure was a reasonably competent display. He looked at me with a bemused look on his face and said, "You're an excellent sightreader."
With a single 'compliment', he let me know he knew I hadn't done what I'd needed, hadn't prepared, and couldn't perform up to his expectations...but in a display of far more kindness than I deserved, he declined the opportunity to yell or otherwise be demonstratively upset with me.
I've often thought about that day, off and on, for the last 30 something years. I didn't know what I didn't know, and I didn't know what he knew, and I had no appreciation for how far behind I really was in terms of skill or competence. I thought I could mask it through chutzpah and charm and a reasonable amount of musical intuition. I was wrong. As a result, I've tried really hard to not misrepresent what I can do and what I can't.
The AI Competence Gap
I'm publicly sharing that story now, because of a recent trend I've seen in my technical/business readings. Lots of companies are pushing hard to replace employees with AI, lots of job candidates are interviewing with the assistance of AI, and employees are increasingly working with AI to perform their tasks. This is a path fraught with danger, because eventually everyone gets asked to do a thing. Explain a design. Perform in front of an audience. Demonstrate competence, one way or another, to people with equal or higher competence. These shows of capacity will also have far graver outcomes than a simple cello lesson. There's a world of difference between mimicking a skill and understanding a skill, and that difference can mean millions of dollars, the destruction (or elevation) of a corporate brand, or more.
AI as Tool, Not Replacement
I use AI tools all the time to do a wide variety of things. Taking notes in a meeting so that I can be a more thoughtful participant. Generating draft ideas for further refinement. Creating graphics quickly because I honestly never took the time to build that capability. But these, these are not talents that are mission-critical.
For AltDigital's core skillset and the reputation built upon those skills, which is to say, cybersecurity, innovation, operations, and leadership in IT, these are capabilities we have built over decades of repeatable success. We can do it well, and we can do it cold.