Why Should I Use AI?

Let me be honest: it all comes down to finding the sweet spot between comfort, reliability, and yes, making money.

Speaking from experience, AI has been a game-changer for me. As someone who wears multiple hats—coding, running a business, managing time—I've found it to be an incredible ally. It helps me juggle tasks better, expand my skillset, and maintain a healthier work-life balance. But here's the thing: my experience might not be universal. In fact, from what I've researched, it isn't.

AI is shaking things up in a way that makes the iPhone revolution look tame. The big difference? People see AI as more than just a tool—they see it as a potential replacement for human workers. That's where things get complicated.

Who really benefits?

Let's talk numbers: using AI can save you about 7.5 hours per week—that's nearly a week's worth of work every month!¹ But who's actually reaping these benefits?

Small business champions

The adoption rates tell an interesting story. By 2025, 58% of small business owners jumped on the AI bandwagon—up from 40% in 2024 and double what it was in 2023.²

Why? Because for small business owners and solo entrepreneurs, the math is simple: if you can do more in the same amount of time or handle multiple roles more effectively, your bottom line improves directly. There’s no middle layer between effort and outcome.

The enterprise puzzle

Here's where it gets tricky. In big companies, the benefits aren't so clear-cut. Put yourself in an employee's shoes: if you're expected to use AI to boost productivity, wouldn't you expect some perks in return? Maybe a bonus or a salary bump?

What I find fascinating is the rise of what I think of as the “shadow AI economy” inside organizations—employees bringing their own AI tools to work. If AI helps you manage your workload better and reduces stress, of course you'll use it, whether it's officially sanctioned or not.

Many enterprises are stuck in trial phases,⁴ but that doesn't mean AI isn't being used—it's just happening under the radar.³ The irony? This often benefits AI tooling companies far more than the enterprises themselves.

In reality, if there’s no clear benefit for an employee to use AI to be more productive—bonuses, higher pay, or reduced working hours—it’s hard to create real value inside an enterprise. And while AI can absolutely boost output, it also demands a genuine mental shift in how you work. You have to move from simply grinding through your own tasks to actively multitasking with an AI partner. In my experience, that shift feels a lot like managing a team: you need to organize work clearly, and like any management skill, it takes extra effort, practice, and experience to get good at.

What I've learned

After diving deep into this, I've realized the biggest hurdle isn't the tech—it’s how people and organizations adopt it. In enterprises especially, it comes down to two things: incentives and education.

If employees don't see a clear benefit, and if they aren't taught how to actually work with AI as a partner, adoption stalls or goes underground as “shadow AI.”

Different roles need AI in different ways, and many people don't grasp basic concepts like context limits or context rot. With some fundamental AI education, and with incentives that reward real productivity gains instead of just piling on more work, we could see much smoother adoption in larger organizations.

The technical and security concerns? Those are real, but they're challenges we can tackle separately. The key is getting people comfortable with AI as a partner, not a replacement.

References

1. LSE Research: AI boosts productivity by the equivalent of one workday per week
2. AI Statistics for Business Leaders
3. Shadow AI Risk
4. What's Going On with AI?