If you’re reading this, you’re likely already a user, tinkerer, or advocate for artificial intelligence. You’ve felt the thrill of a perfect prompt, the efficiency of an automated task, the spark of a co-created idea. You see the horizon. But right now, you might also be feeling something else: friction.
A skeptical colleague dismisses your AI-assisted analysis as “cheating.” A new policy at work clamps down on tool usage “until we understand the risks.” A viral social post decries the “soulless” replacement of human artistry. You’re facing what feels like an irrational pushback against an obvious future.Here’s the uncomfortable truth: If you are a user of AI, you need to be ready. Ready to fight small battles, and ready to be set back. This isn’t a smooth adoption curve; it’s a rollercoaster with brakes being pulled by well-meaning, fearful, and sometimes obstructive forces. For the next few years, we are all pioneers—and pioneers face resistance.
We are entering the “Luddite Adjustment Period.” The term is often misused. The original Luddites weren’t mindless technology-haters; they were skilled workers fighting for their livelihoods, dignity, and control in the face of disruptive machinery. Their modern counterparts aren’t smashing servers, but they are sowing doubt, enforcing restrictive policies, and championing a romanticized, AI-free past. Their concerns aren’t always invalid—they’re just often aimed at stopping the tide rather than channeling it.
You will encounter this resistance as institutional friction, like bans on tools in schools or offices wrapped in layers of cautious compliance. You will feel it as social pushback, in the labels of “cheater” or the anxious questions from friends about obsolescence. You will experience it as personal setbacks, where a brilliant workflow you built is suddenly blocked, or you feel compelled to hide your process to avoid devaluation. Expect moments where you take two steps forward, only to be pushed one step, or sometimes three, back.This is the fight. But it’s not a fight against people. It’s a fight for understanding, for safety, and for a better future.
Our role as AI users now isn’t just to be proficient. It’s to be stewards, translators, and diplomats. That means demonstrating instead of just declaring. Stop merely saying AI is amazing and start showing how it solves a chronic, boring problem your team faces. Become a living case study of its undeniable value. It means acknowledging the fear before addressing it. When someone worries about job loss, engage with that genuine concern. Talk about the transformation of work, about augmentation over automation, and about the new skills we are all poised to cultivate.
We must champion the idea of co-creation, not replacement. Frame AI as your collaborator. Explain how it handled a first draft, which freed you to focus on the nuanced human edit, or how it explored concepts so you could dive deeper into strategy. Above all, be patiently, relentlessly practical. While the grand philosophical debates rage, focus on ground-level utility in your own sphere. The argument that a tool saved ten hours a week on reports is the kind of concrete evidence that slowly, inevitably, wins budgets and shifts culture.
Here is the light: this adjustment period is temporary. It is a finite season of friction. History is clear—from the printing press to the personal computer, transformative technology is met with a predictable cycle of shock, rejection, struggle, and finally, integration and acceptance. Society does not reject a true utility forever; it adapts. The people setting you back today will, in five years, be using AI seamlessly in ways they can’t yet imagine. The blockers will become gatekeepers, then adopters. The fear will mellow into routine.But between now and then, there is work to do. The path isn’t cleared. We are clearing it, through daily use, patient explanation, and resilient demonstration.
So, steel yourself. You will be frustrated. You will be set back. Your progress will feel stalled. That’s not a sign you’re wrong. It’s a sign you’re early.Keep building. Keep showing. Keep translating. The long run is coming, and it will be shaped by those who had the grit to navigate the messy, resistant middle. Your job isn’t just to use AI. For now, your job is to pave the way for everyone else to accept it.
The future is collaborative. But first, it requires a little convincing.