What are we actually outsourcing?

How many times have you used AI today? Honestly. At a guess I would say more than you realise. 

Think about it, I use it like a wingman without thinking twice to check my work or help me brainstorm different angles. Ten years ago, I would've figured it out myself. Five years ago, I would've Googled it.

Today, most of us instinctively ask AI. You can't even google things these days without getting some form of AI response. 

It is everywhere... it is in our businesses. Our emails. Our marketing. Our shopping. Our conversations. Our ideas.

It feels like we've blinked and AI has quietly become another member of the team, or if I am brutally honest, an extension of self?

Deep down, we all know this is only the beginning. We just don't like to think too hard about what comes next, because the truth is none of us can fully comprehend where this is taking us. Every week there's another model, another tool, and with that another subscription promising to save us ten hours.

Another creator telling us we'll be left behind if we don't learn the latest platform. People are exhausted, and trying to keep up has almost become a full-time job.

But the truth is you don't need every AI tool, you just need the right AI tools. The ones that genuinely save you time. The ones that give you a return on the subscription (and if they are not giving you value to what you are working on then they're just digital clutter!)

But there's another question I've been thinking about... if AI keeps doing more of the thinking, what happens to our thinking?

There's already discussion around "digital dementia." Not because AI is bad but because convenience has always changed human behaviour.

Think about it, we stopped memorising phone numbers because our phones remember them, but then feel panic if we are without our phones. We stopped reading maps because GPS tells us where to go, but then panic when we need to get there ourselves.

Now we're starting to outsource research. Our writing, our planning, our decision making. Even our creativity.

The skill of the future won't be doing everything yourself. Maybe it'll be knowing what should be done by AI... and what should still be done by you.

I don't think the winners will be the people who use AI for everything. I think they'll be the people who know where human judgment still matters.

Strategy. Taste. Leadership. Relationships. Critical thinking. Those become far more valuable, not less.

AI isn't replacing us but it is changing the job description. AI should amplify our thinking, not replace it.

So what are we really outsourcing, are we using AI to become better thinkers?

Or are we slowly forgetting how to think for ourselves?