AI won’t make you stupid.  

But it might stop your development.

Inspired by great researchers: Zachary Stein and Susanne Cook-Greuter

We talk a lot about what AI can do.  

Too little about what it does to us.

AI removes friction.  

And that feels like progress.

But here’s the tension:

Friction is what develops us.

According to vertical developmental theory, growth doesn’t come from speed or efficiency.  

It comes from:

– holding complexity  

– sitting in not knowing  

– making meaning under pressure  

If AI starts doing that for us, something subtle happens:

We become more capable…  

but less developed.

Faster…  

but more dependent.

More productive…  

but less able to think in nuance, paradox, and ambiguity.

This is the real risk:

Our tools are scaling faster than our maturity.

Horizontal capability is exploding.  

Vertical development is not.

And that might create a dangerous gap.

Because the real challenge of leadership today is not information.

It’s meaning-making.

As a certified Leadership Maturity Coach working with human beings every day, I see the paradox firsthand:

AI can help me ask sharper, more challenging questions.  

It can accelerate reflection.

But can it replace my presence?

The human capacity to hold a safe space…  

to sense what is not being said…  

to meet another human being from a conscious and caring place?

I’m not sure it can.

And maybe that’s the point.

So the question is no longer:

“How can I use AI better?”

But:

“How do I use AI without outsourcing my own development—and without losing the human depth that development requires?”

Maybe the future advantage isn’t AI.

Maybe it’s the ability to stay deeply human  

in how we think, relate, and lead our selves.

Curious how you see this.

♥️ Life loves you

Anders Christian Hjort

LMC & ACT Matrix Coach