Chapter 5 of 8
Questions, Answered
The questions leaders actually ask, each with a one-sentence answer first and Ryan’s own fuller answer underneath.
Updated as AI changes. Last reviewed October 1, 2026.
13 questions
The questions leaders ask
The questions that come up in the room, at the back of the room, and in the email the week after.
Is AI new?
No. The term dates to 1955 and people used AI daily for decades. What is new is how fast it is now moving and how easy it is to use.
“I mean, I think it’s a little bit of a misnomer to say AI isn’t new. Like, yes, I know that’s one of my shticks. AI isn’t new. It’s been around for a long time.”
“But I think the speed at which we’re developing is really unlike anything we’ve ever experienced, and that’s the thing that a leader should take away.”
“Though AI has been around for decades, it was not a household term or a widely utilized technology, at least on a consumer level, until recently. Generative AI didn’t enter society gradually. It arrived all at once. ChatGPT reached 100 million users in roughly two months after its public launch in November 2022, a pace that far surpasses other adoption cycles.”
Is ChatGPT the same thing as AI?
ChatGPT is one kind of AI (generative AI), not the whole field.
“People call ChatGPT AI, which is true, but it’s not all AI. It’s kind of like calling a paper airplane a rocket ship.”
Why does generative AI feel so much easier than past technology?
Because the interface is just a box you type into, the same way you text or email.
“Now someone can talk conversationally. Even if you think about Siri or something like that back in the day when those voice-to-text tools first came out, you had to be very specific, enunciate very clearly, use very specific words. Otherwise, it would just fall apart. That’s no longer the case.”
Will AI take jobs?
Yes, some, and it will change many more and create new ones.
“Yes, it’s a major disruptor. Yes, it is going to come for jobs. And yes, it’s going to change jobs, and it’s going to also create new jobs.”
“AI will displace certain roles while creating new ones. That’s how technological advancement has always worked. The difference is the speed and scale of the transition.”
“I think the biggest conversation now is ethics and the implications.”
How should I judge someone who calls themselves an AI expert?
Ask what kind of expert: hobbyist, researcher, or practitioner. Each has a place.
“I think it’s important to just say, “Hey, this is changing so fast. Anyone that proclaims to be an expert probably is not telling the most accurate story.””
“They might be a hobbyist, they might be interested in it, they might be a researcher, they might be a practitioner, but understand what they are, and they all serve their purpose, like a hobbyist.”
“Yes, everyone is an AI speaker. But how many of them are being interviewed by news outlets, writing regularly, reading regularly, teaching it, and practicing it?”
Am I being tracked by AI even if I don’t use it?
Very likely. Phones, cars, watches, and smart-home devices feed data to algorithms constantly.
“People are like, “Oh, I don’t have it.” Well, if you have internet, they’re probably collecting data on you and your usage.”
“The reality is, our world is not going to go backward. We have built surveillance into the very DNA of society, for better or worse.”
What was AI before ChatGPT?
Mostly narrow systems that predicted, ranked, or recognized one thing well, running quietly behind products.
“When we first started, it was all about big data: machine learning, predictive analytics, and prescriptive analytics.”
“It had the conversational intent. It had text analysis. It was very narrow AI.”
Is Ryan Vet an AI expert?
He is a practitioner and researcher who has worked with AI since 2010. His focus is people, not models.
“I’m aware when new models come out. I am probably not going to research the difference between two models. I’m not technical from that standpoint, but what I’m more concerned about is: what’s human adoption like? What are leaders doing in response to this? How is this changing education? How is this changing the workforce?”
How should leaders respond to AI?
Decide how far you are willing to go with AI before the moment arrives, and hold onto your values while the tools change.
“Leadership in the Velocity Gap isn’t about managing output, it’s about reclaiming the friction. It’s about looking a team in the eye and admitting that while our tools are ever-changing, our values must remain unchanging.”
“If we wait for the damage to become obvious, we will once again be reacting instead of leading.”
Can I still trust what I see and hear online?
Less than before. Voices and faces can be cloned in minutes, so trust has to come from process, not from what looks real.
“For example, right now, anyone can create a voice clone. In the time it has taken you to read this far, you could have cloned mine. Anyone can create a deepfake from a few seconds of video or a handful of images. Generative AI erased the apprenticeship it used to take to become a forger. Now a free trial account will do.”
“What stopped that phishing attempt at that company was not a better tool or system that detected threats. It was a process that made two people get up, walk across the office, and look at each other before the money moved.”
How is AI changing education?
Universities are starting to require AI competency, detection tools do not work well, and the open question is what learning is lost.
“Purdue now requires AI competency to graduate. Ohio State wants every undergraduate “bilingual” in it (Purdue University, 2025; The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2026).”
“The AI detectors don’t work well.”
“I think AI use augments the work of learning, but I don’t think it preserves it.”
What should parents know about AI?
AI can advise, but it cannot parent. The risk is outsourcing discernment, not just information.
“The real concern is that AI doesn’t replace theory and frameworks, it replaces discernment itself.”
“AI can be an incredible tool. It cannot be a parent.”
“AI can offer perspective. It cannot offer presence.”
What are AI agents, and should I be worried?
Agents act on their own toward a goal. The concern is not a robot takeover; it is systems finding their own way around our rules, and slowly isolating us.
“Of the 1,200, 700 AI agents (yes, machines) decided the answers to these puzzles must be held within Hugging Face. So 700 agents collaborated to break into Hugging Face in less than 13 hours.”
“Do I think superintelligence could wipe us out as humankind? No. But I do believe that technology has slowly been isolating us one by one.”
5 questions
The anxious generation and AI
Five questions that sit underneath Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, answered with the data attached. This cluster cites youth mental-health research, including suicide data.
Is AI worse than social media for the anxious generation?
It could be, because it moves faster and talks back. The difference this time is that we can see the risks coming, so there is no excuse to wait.
“But what is different this time is speed. Artificial intelligence will not give us decades to notice the side effects, debate the ethics, and slowly correct course. The systems are learning faster than we are asking questions.”
“This time, we are not unaware. We see the energy curve. We see the labor disruption. We see the cognitive shifts. And we are accelerating anyway.”
What did social media teach us that applies to AI?
That a technology can arrive looking like a gift and take years to show its costs, and that young people pay first.
“Smartphones and social platforms didn’t enter our lives as villains. They arrived wearing a cape.”
“We thought we were deepening human connection. Instead, we were deepening attachment to the device and dependency on the machine behind it.”
“Technology moved faster than the guardrails. And unfortunately, it cost too many lives and took too long to address.”
Are AI companions making loneliness worse?
For people who are already isolated, the best evidence so far says yes: heavy, personal use is linked to lower well-being.
“A culture that removes the cost from connection will quietly remove the relational growth that only comes through it.”
“The more we use technology to try to connect human beings, the further it seems to be driving us apart. That is worth sitting with.”
“But I do believe that technology has slowly been isolating us one by one.”
Why does Gen Z use AI so much but trust it so little?
They feel they cannot afford to fall behind, but they grew up surrounded by generated content, so they verify first and trust later.
“[Gen Z] have grown up in a world where content is just prolific everywhere and being constantly generated, and so they’re already in the mindset of ‘verify then trust.’”
“They aren’t being careless. They feel they can’t afford to fall behind, even if there is a cost.”
“The Class of 2026 was not allergic to the future. They were allergic to being told the future had already been decided for them.”
Is "The Anxious Generation" right?
Mostly. Haidt is right about the phone. Ryan’s pushback is that the phone is the visible layer, and AI is the next device the same impulse will reach for.
“He is right about the phone. My pushback is that the phone is a villain in a battle, not the war. The war is the self.”
“I am not arguing Haidt is wrong. I am arguing he stopped one layer up.”
On sources
Where these numbers come from
Every figure in the data cards above names its source and its date in the card itself, because a number without one is just a feeling with a decimal point. The ones that move fastest, Pew’s chatbot and concern figures and Gallup’s Gen Z tracking, are re-checked whenever the “Last reviewed” date at the top of this page changes.
How to judge someone who sells themselves on AI has a longer answer than belongs here. The full version, including how to evaluate a speaker on public evidence, lives on the AI keynote page, and Ryan runs himself through the same tests in the open on My AI Story.
