AI Is Not a Tool: Why the 'We'll Adapt' Cliché Fails

Treating AI as just another tool is a serious and common mistake, the author argues. Traditional technologies extend human will but lack cognitive processes — they don't perceive, evaluate, or decide. AI, by contrast, is autonomous, ever-changing, and can even alter part of its own nature. That makes it more like a human, an alien, or a slave than a tool. The comforting idea that we'll simply adapt, as we did with past disruptive technologies, gives us a false sense of security and stops us from seriously analyzing AI's impact.