I hate AI. It’s ruined the web. It’s ruined the technology sector I work in. Even with this hatred I haven’t stepped away, and to help me continue understanding the pipes that power Internet technology, I’ve leaned into my usage of AI. Not because I enjoy it. Not because I am a champion of it. But because I need to understand the technology, business, and politics of APIs as I have for the last sixteen years. And APIs are the inputs and outputs of AI.
As I make my way through the darkness and shadows cast by AI throughout the space I work in, I am endlessly fascinated by how people approach AI, have AI forced upon them, and artfully avoid playing the AI game. I wish we didn’t have to, but here we are, so I am going to share what I am seeing and experiencing. It is all such a hustle, and very few people are honest about what it is and how they use it, even the honest people I know. It’s fascinating what AI does to people. AI is a dark and obfuscating art, and people use it in ways that are clearly meant to manipulate, even though I think many of them don’t fully understand what they are manipulating, or how they are being manipulated.
I regularly do consulting sessions for $500 an hour on a variety of topics. They come with a somewhat standardized, but also ever-evolving, survey I have to respond to before they’ll accept the engagement with me. The latest one wanted to learn from me about how to manage agentic traffic, analytics, onboarding, standardization, and other AI automation subjects I am immersed in with my APIs.io work. The survey said I had to agree that I have not used AI in any of the work I am sharing with the client. Big NO. Of course I use agents to understand the agents. Who the fuck are you to tell me I can’t use AI in my work, and then ask me to share my work with you about the AI? It is so weird. The dissonance is dizzying.
In other work, I recently added what I call my “Front Door AI” rating to my Kin Score for companies. I count the number of times AI-related keywords and phrases appear on a company’s home page and scale it on a score of 1-6. I use 1 if they barely mention it or don’t mention it at all, and 6 if they mention it heavily. This allows me to contrast any company I talk to regarding their API investment, their AI investment, and how much they talk about it. Basically, I can measure whether they are walking the walk or just talking the talk when it comes to the AI hustle. It has gotten pretty easy for me to spot whether companies are full of shit when it comes to their AI work. It helps me filter out who I should be talking to and who I should ignore. I get a lot of incoming requests, and having the ability to filter out the noise means I do not waste my time.
I have several other consulting relationships going on where I am up front about my AI usage. It is interesting to experience people’s beliefs and usage of AI. Everyone wants to understand how to play the game with APIs powering whatever their AI hustle is. I am happy to help, but there is a spectrum of beliefs in play, and I can tell people have a lot of trust issues, even with my straight-up stance. I find the same when it comes to the content and artifacts I produce daily and publish across my sites. There is a lot of skepticism when it comes to AI, and while some people trust me, many do not really know me, and are led by their belief or non-belief in AI. I’m fine with it all. But I can really see how some people are playing a multi-dimensional hustle, pushing for AI limits while also using it behind the scenes in ways that aren’t always clear.
AI feels like a wet dream for people who already approach business as a multi-dimensional game. I’ve long experienced that those who get ahead in business are almost always the ones who play games in multiple dimensions, manipulating the people above, around, and below them. AI is this at a whole new level. That is why so many business leaders believe in it. They know how they got where they are, and that they did it without always having the cover they needed, and now AI provides the obfuscation and shadows they’ve always desired. Unless someone can clearly articulate why AI is bad, if they are restricting AI, I will always suspect they are using AI and not being straight up about it. This will be difficult, because I think there are people who are using it and not being straight up about it, but they aren’t trying to manipulate or get ahead–they are just trying to survive. Understanding what is happening in the shadows of technology was already difficult, but it just got even more difficult with the continued spread of AI across all business sectors.
