"We Use AI a Lot" — Compared to What? Three Questions That Measure Whether AI Helped
"We use AI a lot" is a claim about effort volume: it says how much was used, not what came out. The same sentence can describe pushing against capacity and describing an unplanned quarter, so on its own it carries no information. This piece separates the usage metric from the impact metric, shows how framing AI as a coach rather than a production machine changes what you measure, and sets out three questions — Comparison, Decision, Durability — with evidence from METR, McKinsey, PNAS and the QJE, each with its limits stated. It closes with the serious objections and a short FAQ.