"Stop saying that AI is just a tool and it only matters how it is used"

https://www.frank.computer/blog/2025/05/just-a-tool.html

> Believing that AI is “just a tool” is naive at best and dismissive at worst because nothing about tools is “just” anything.

Stop saying that AI is just a tool and it only matters how it is used

I’m tired of this phrase and this simple way of thinking about tools. This blog post is a wandering train of thought on the topic of what tools are and why it matters to be even slightly more mature in how we think about them.

Frank Elavsky
@baldur LLMs are easily one of, if not the most, political tools to happen to computing in history, that's for goddamned sure
@baldur An axe is just a tool as long as you don't watch The Shining.
A hammer is just a tool as long as Maxwell is not wielding it.
@baldur Tools are designed to be used a certain way.
@baldur this was a great read, thanks for the link.
@baldur really enjoyed that!