The current AI race leans toward consumption—rapid, convenient, and superficial use—over meaningful production and transformation.

The real race with AI is not merely about how we consume it, but about how we shape production with AI, since a consumption-first approach could erode autonomy and civic capability.

Citing McKinsey’s 2025 findings, the piece highlights a gap between broad generative AI use and durable, production-grade integration, making sustained value hard to achieve.

Education is the critical battleground: schools must foster thinking, production-oriented skills, and strong foundational habits rather than just teaching tool use or prompt engineering.

Societal dialogue centers on choosing between AI that makes us think less and AI that augments thinking and enables more creation, with the latter view favored for lasting progress.

AI production, not just consumption, means generating new capabilities, reengineering processes, and advancing sectors like healthcare, industry, and public services.

Relying on AI for consumption can erode core cognitive faculties—problem formulation, sustained effort, discernment, memory, and judgment—and threaten autonomous production and sovereignty.