Introduction
I sometimes think about our ancestors’ first fire. That flicker in the dark. How dangerous it must have seemed at first — a force to be tamed, understood, and wielded. And later, the simple, powerful, and deceptively elegant wheel took centuries before humans grasped all its implications for transport, machines, and civilization.
In my view, the rise of generative AI is of that same magnitude. It’s not just another tool or platform. It’s a discovery whose full integration into human systems will take generations, mistakes, experimentation, adjustments, ambition, and ethics. I believe it’s bigger than the internet, bigger than social media, bigger than the cellphone.
Why It May Surpass Past Paradigm Shifts
When we look back at recorded history, fire and the wheel are shorthand for foundational leaps. They undergirded every other advance: metallurgy, agriculture, powered transportation, and mechanical engineering. The internet, social media, and mobile were built atop earlier foundations.
AI (especially generative AI) is different because it’s not just scaffolding — it amplifies cognition, a collaborator with thought. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet/Google, has explicitly made this comparison. He said AI is “more profound than fire or electricity.” Analytics Vidhya+2Supply Chain Today+2
He’s not alone. Others in tech have echoed versions of this:
- “Artificial intelligence is one of the most profound things we’re working on as humanity. It is more profound than fire or electricity.” — Sundar Pichai Rage Inside The Machine
- “I believe AI will change the world more than anything in the history of humanity. More than electricity.” — Kai-Fu Lee Nisum
- “By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it.” — Eliezer Yudkowsky Nisum
- “Generative AI is the most powerful tool for creativity that has ever been created.” — Elon Musk Skim AI
From different vantage points, these voices recognize something deeper: AI doesn’t just change a channel or a device; it changes how thoughts are formed, stories are told, and work is done.
The so-called “dollhouse” fire prop (sometimes known in the fire service as a Palmer’s Box or compartment model) has become a staple in fire-behavior training over the past decade. It allows firefighters to internalize principles of ventilation, flow paths, and fire evolution in a controlled demonstration.
My Journey with ChatGPT
I was an early adopter when ChatGPT first came alive. In the early months, I used it, experimenting, pushing its boundaries, and testing its limits.
In those early days, I viewed it as a writing assistant — helpful in drafting, organizing, and prompting new angles. Over time, I realized its fundamental role: I became the editor, fact-checker, and steward of its output. Because I am the expert in the domains I advise on, it is not. It helps me break through writer’s block, generate lines of thought, and sketch structure — but I refine, adjust, validate, and throw out mistakes.
I believe this is how many creatives, strategists, and communicators will work in the future: AI as the generative engine, human as the arbiter, meaning-maker, and moral compass.
What Makes This Bigger Than Prior Tech Waves
- Cognitive leverage — prior technologies externalized power, movement, and connection. AI externalizes thought, patterns, language, and insight.
- Pervasiveness — mobile was universal; AI will be embedded everywhere (apps, systems, platforms).
- Speed of iteration — changes come in weeks or months, not decades.
- Unseen effects — shifts in identity, authorship, truth, agency.
- Ethical weight — unlike a new app or platform, AI forces us to wrestle with bias, trust, explainability, and consequences.
The wheel didn’t demand ethics committees. Fire didn’t demand governance algorithms. These now do.
Lessons from Fire & the Wheel — What History Can Teach Us
- Fire had a dual nature: warmth and burn. We had to learn containment (hearths, controlled burns).
- The wheel evolved — from carts to gears to engines and turbines. Over millennia, its full potential was unlocked.
- In each leap, misuses, accidents, and buses happened. We adapted rules, crafts, and regulations.
Similarly, we must treat AI not as a toy or a gimmick, but as an artifact to be disciplined, regulated, audited, and guided. We’ll require cross-disciplinary thinking: ethics, philosophy, sociology, domain knowledge, and governance.
What I Do Today (with AI) — In My Practice
- I let AI generate multiple outlines or creative prompts; I pick, merge, and refine.
- I use it to surface ideas (sometimes offbeat) I might not consider.
- I never publish its output verbatim without layering my voice, fact-checking, and reframing.
- I treat it as a collaborator, not a creator.
- I remain vigilant about its blind spots — bias, hallucinations, superficial fluency.
Invitation to Clients & Readers
If AI is the fire of our age — powerful, illuminating, dangerous — then we don’t want to be just spectators. We must learn to tend it. To guide it. To decide where we light it and where we snuff it.
I invite businesses, storytellers, and organizations (especially those in mission work) to explore how to use this fire wisely, not just chase sparks. How can you integrate generative AI into brand, narrative, and communication without losing humanity?
Because this is not a tool you “pick up” and put down — it’s a transformation you must learn to live with, to domesticate, to steward.
Conclusion
I believe generative AI is among human history’s most significant inflection points. If fire and the wheel were about unlocking new physical domains, AI is unlocking cognitive and imaginative ones. The journey is long, and there will be many mistakes, but the possibility is profound.
