Your AI anxiety is being exploited.

Author: jiayi

AI is generating explosive traffic on X; my X sends me a new type of content every day.

Someone posted a screenshot of an AI tool configuration with the caption, "I improved my efficiency tenfold using this system." The comments section immediately flooded with comments like "Already installed," "So powerful," and "You'll be left behind if you don't learn this."

Some people even share their AI workflows, telling you that you can earn tens of thousands a month by copying their methods.

And then what? You've finished pretending, but you're still you.

For those who don't know how to trade, AI effectively improves your efficiency in reducing losses. Your problem is never that you lack a tool.

I don't deny that AI is the biggest variable of our time. But I want to say a few facts that people may not want to hear.

1. 80% of the AI ​​content on X is essentially panic marketing.

Create anxiety → Provide a solution → Gain traffic.

This is a very mature monetization chain.

If you observe closely, you'll find that those who are most fervently advocating for an "AI revolution" aren't selling AI capabilities, but rather your fear . What they need most isn't for you to actually learn AI, but for you to remain anxious, continue to pay attention to them, and continue to share their content.

This is the same logic as the old saying in the crypto world, "It'll be too late if you don't get on board," just in a different guise.

A recent AI-generated post on X, titled "Something Big Is Happening," garnered 70 million views . However, the post deliberately omitted crucial context, retaining only the parts most likely to trigger panic.

Panic is selling attention, not the truth.

Second, copying someone else's AI strategy with one click is the dumbest way to learn.

Personalized AI essentially relies on individual perception.

Recently there has Claude Code's configuration repository, with 50,000 stars , has become a hit. Many people are sharing it and saying, "Install it now!"

I studied it carefully—

It's a development workflow configuration designed for professional programmers : TDD test-driven development, code review agent, security scanning, and 17 dedicated sub-agents. It's excellent.

But it was designed for people who write code .

Everyone's work environment, pain points, and way of thinking are different. Someone else's AI configuration is the result of their own trial and error, tailoring it to their specific needs.

What you're copying with one click isn't its capabilities, but a bunch of files you don't need.

Ironically, Boris Cherny, the creator of Claude Code, himself said that his configuration was actually "surprisingly vanilla"—the factory settings were sufficient and did not require much customization.

But these words weren't provocative enough, so no one shared them.

III. The biggest pitfall of AI: It's not "you don't know how to use it," but "you use everything."

I've seen people use AI to plan what to do that day, prioritize each task, and allocate time for each task.

This shocked me.

The ability to allocate one's time and energy is one of the most crucial skills a person can possess .

What you should do, what you should do first, what is worth investing in, and what you should give up—these judgments are based on your understanding of yourself, your clarity of your goals, and your perception of opportunity costs.

This is not a decision that AI can make for you.

Because AI doesn't know that you had insomnia last night and are therefore not in good condition today, doesn't know that you have intuitive confidence in a certain project, and doesn't know that you have a delicate relationship with a certain partner that needs to be addressed as a priority.

Entrusting these tasks to AI is like letting someone you've only known for five minutes plan your life.

Can AI enhance your thinking, or will it replace your thinking? This is essentially my assessment of whether AI or humans are the fuel for your thinking. After all, living brain cells can now run and operate AI.

IV. The data tells you a cruel truth.

This is not my opinion.

Fortune reported in February that thousands of CEOs admitted that AI has not had a real impact on employment and productivity.

A recent study by Goldman Sachs found no significant correlation between AI and productivity.

Tom's Hardware Citing a survey of 6,000 executives: More than 80% of companies reported that AI has not led to increased productivity.

Nobel laureate in economics Daron Acemoglu stated directly: AI is not improving productivity.

The Harvard Business Review 's headline in February was even more direct:

Research from UC Berkeley also warns that the effects of AI in the workplace are the exact opposite of what is expected —employees do become more productive, but their workload also skyrockets, ultimately leading to burnout.

Fifth, the real source of anxiety isn't "I haven't learned how to use AI yet."

Instead, it's "I can no longer think for myself."

The ability to think independently is the most scarce asset in this era.

AI can help you write content that scores 80 points, but only the human brain can make the leap from 80 to 100. AI can help you collect information, but judging which information is important and how to combine it into unique insights is a human job.

Research shows that in the SAT writing test, the group that used AI assistance had the lowest brain activity , and their content was rated as "lacking originality and warmth".

Over-reliance on AI, especially among young people, can have a negative impact on brain development.

While you are training AI, you are also causing your own brain to degenerate.

This is not science fiction. This is a tragic thing that is happening right now.

VI. Correct Posture

Embrace change, learn to improve your understanding, and stay clear-headed.

Know what AI can do better than you—

Repetitive tasks, data organization, format conversion, and draft generation—let AI handle these.

You also know which things you do better than AI—

Strategic judgment, relationship maintenance, creative intuition, value judgment, and time management. These skills require repeated practice , not outsourcing to a model.

Not every problem requires an AI solution.

Sometimes turning off all tools and thinking quietly for 10 minutes is more effective than opening 10 AI windows.

Don't let "AI anxiety" become your new shackles.

Those who sell AI panic on X are profiting from your anxiety. Every time you forward "If you don't learn AI, you're doomed," you're doing them free work.

The real winners of this wave of AI are not those who use AI the most, but those who know when not to use AI.