Lenny RachitskyHost of Lenny's Podcast | Author of Lenny's Newsletter

What to do if you're worried about Al

11 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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In this advisory monologue, the speaker argues that fear of AI stems primarily from misunderstanding. He suggests that individuals anxious about AI’s impact on jobs should invest time in learning how the technology works, which quickly reveals its current limitations. He illustrates these limits with examples such as a Gemini model failing to recognize a cup when presented upside‑down and humanoid robots that appear sentient but are merely pre‑programmed motor actions. By recognizing these gaps, people can avoid over‑estimating AI capabilities. The speaker then shifts to a broader societal question: whether AI will ultimately harm society. He emphasizes that the outcome depends on collective choices, urging listeners to both understand the technology and actively guide its use toward beneficial applications while guarding against misuse.

Chapters

The core root of fear is misunderstanding. If you at home are very anxious about the impact of AI on your own job, the best thing that you can do is spend time to understand it, and you will quickly see the limitations. There's some great videos which are like trying to get Gemini to understand what a cup is by just holding it upside down. The AI overlords have to first understand like the top and bottom of a cup. And so you realize that you can see the video of nunchuck wielding humanoids, your brain kind of fills in the gaps. You just feel like these are sentient beings that are at their own volition rather than it's a bunch of motors that have been programmed to do a certain thing. And so I would really implore you to learn more about the technology and you start seeing the edges. Now, does that take away from the most fundamental thing, which is, is society going to be fundamentally harmed? It's up to us to recognize this technology can be used for good and technology can be used for bad. So get to know it and then actively make the technology be used for good.