Source: Art: DALL-E/OpenAI
Throughout history, each new wave of technology has arrived accompanied by a familiar set of anxieties—fears that our work, our creativity, and even our humanity might be diminished. Today, with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and large language models, those concerns feel more pressing than ever. Will AI replace our ingenuity? Will it drain the color from our creative lives, relegating us to passive spectators as machines take center stage? Are we destined to watch as the “pie of opportunity” gets sliced into ever-smaller pieces, leaving us with less and less to claim as uniquely our own?
Let’s take a deep breath and step back to consider a more powerful narrative. What if, rather than shrinking our role, technology has always done something else? Instead of boxing us in, it creates an expanding circle—one that opens up new realms of possibility and invites more voices, more ideas, and more stories.
Look closely, and this pattern emerges throughout history. Photography and chess, two seemingly unconnected fields, reveal how technology doesn’t just change the way we create; it fundamentally redefines what creativity itself can be.
Photography: A Story Told by Millions
Photography began as an exclusive craft, a laborious process requiring heavy equipment, chemistry, and skilled hands. Only a select few trained artists could capture an image, and each photograph stood as a testament to time, skill, and patience. Yet, as cameras evolved—becoming portable, accessible, and eventually small enough to fit in a pocket—this art form didn’t eclipse the portrait artist, nor did it diminish the profound artistry of visionaries like Ansel Adams. Instead, the circle grew wider, allowing more people to engage and create, eventually expanding into what might have once seemed unthinkable: the selfie.
This evolution didn’t make photography or artistic talent obsolete; it made creativity universal. What was once a rare skill transformed into a shared language.
Today, billions of people document their lives, sharing personal narratives and perspectives and connecting across geography and culture. Artistry didn’t disappear; it multiplied. Photography as a profession didn’t fade away; it found new expressions—from portraiture to photojournalism, from street photography to digital art. The boundaries of creativity shifted outward, expanding the circle to include both the masterful artist and the everyday storyteller.
Now, as artificial intelligence weaves itself into photography, we again face familiar fears: Will AI-generated images diminish human creativity? But history tells us otherwise. Just as digital cameras democratized photography, AI can expand our visual language, offering new ways to see and imagine. Rather than replacing our creative spark, it enriches the circle even further, adding layers to the artistic landscape and inviting us into an ever-widening world of creative possibility.
Chess: The Game Reinvented
The story of chess offers another glimpse into how technology doesn’t end our contributions—it redefines them. In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov, marking a new era in computing and, some feared, the death knell for competitive chess. After all, if machines could outplay grandmasters, what was left for humans? Yet, two decades later, chess has never been more popular, and its ecosystem is richer than ever.
Today, players around the world rely on AI-powered chess engines for training, strategy, and insight. Far from pushing chess into obsolescence, these tools have deepened its appeal, adding layers of complexity and fascination. Players study moves that chess engines discovered, positions that no human would have imagined.
AI didn’t steal the game from us; it reinvented it. Chess transformed from a strictly human endeavor into a collaborative dance, one that stretches the human mind to new heights.
The Expanding Circle of AI
So, what about AI in our everyday lives? As AI weaves into fields from medicine to art, there’s an echo of those familiar fears. Can machines replace our doctors, our artists, our thinkers? Will they shrink the role of human ingenuity, leaving us spectators to an automated world?
But look again, and the expanding circle emerges here, too. History has shown us that technology rarely diminishes our creativity; it pushes us into new spaces. Rather than being confined, our creative boundaries stretch. AI’s presence doesn’t just automate; it invites collaboration. Writers experiment with AI-generated prompts, artists blend machine and hand, and scientists use AI to uncover patterns hidden in mountains of data. Instead of being replaced, we’re redefined, finding new edges to explore.
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Human Cognition on the Obsolescence Chopping Block
Yet, in previous technological shifts, innovations like the washing machine or smartphone didn’t threaten our core identity—they simply improved convenience. But with AI’s advancements, we’re facing a different, more unsettling kind of vulnerability. It’s not merely our skills or routines at stake; it’s human cognition itself that appears on the obsolescence chopping block.
This isn’t just about machines doing tasks for us; it’s about machines potentially outpacing us in areas we’ve long considered uniquely human—creativity, problem-solving, even empathy. The expanding circle that once invited us into new forms of engagement now raises complex questions. Are we handing over aspects of our intellect that, once lost, can’t be reclaimed? As AI transforms into a tool that mirrors our cognitive abilities, we find ourselves in a paradox: AI can expand our potential, yet it also poses an unprecedented challenge to our very sense of identity and worth.
Welcoming the Expanding Circle
To step into this expanding circle requires a shift in mindset. We can approach technology as an ally, not a rival. Imagine AI as a catalyst—a collaborator in an ongoing journey, helping us unlock creative expressions we haven’t yet discovered. Technology, then, isn’t a zero-sum game but a way to draw a wider, richer circle around our human potential.
Look at photography, at chess, at any field touched by technology, and the same story plays out. The expanding circle pushes us to rethink, reinvent, and reach for new heights. AI may feel disruptive, but this disruption is simply the next chapter in an ongoing story—a story of human creativity adapting and thriving alongside technological progress.
The future, then, isn’t about AI replacing us. It’s about AI inviting us to grow. The question isn’t whether machines will surpass us but rather how we’ll grow with them, how we’ll take the expanding circle and make it our own. This is the real power of technology—not to diminish but to elevate us into spaces we have yet to imagine.
