AI overwhelms me constantly. New tools seem to launch daily, and trying to keep track of all of them can make you want to avoid the whole thing.
I've spent the past two years in it, from the day ChatGPT arrived to today, where my team and I have built an AI-powered hiring platform.
Three things I've learned.
1. Embrace it, or risk being left behind
For the first year, it was easy to treat generative AI as a fad. It's not going away. I heard a line recently to the effect that AI may not be ready to replace lawyers, but lawyers who don't use AI will be replaced by the ones who do.
A long-time friend of mine who owns a successful HR consulting firm had the same realization. He was resistant to the noise, then worked out that staying competitive meant diving in.
Without AI, you're not playing on the same field as your opponent.
You don't need to become an expert overnight. You do need to start learning, practicing, and finding the tools that work for you.
2. Your first tool is rarely your best tool
And it certainly shouldn't be your only tool.
ChatGPT became synonymous with AI because it was first. The competition is fierce now, and different models have different strengths.
At Ratio, we initially built our platform on OpenAI's models and have since rebuilt our entire infrastructure on Google's Gemini. It's faster, more reliable, and gives us excellent results at a fraction of the cost.
For my own daily work, I bounce between Gemini, Google AI Studio, Perplexity, and NotebookLM, depending on the task. The models have bad days, just like we do. Don't get frustrated; get nimble. If one tool isn't working, move on to another.
3. The human is still the most important part of the equation
This has been my biggest lesson. I can't tell you how many times I've coded with an AI, amazed at its speed, only to be the one who solves a logical problem that would have stumped it for hours.
We still matter. Our expertise, our intuition, and our creativity are the critical ingredients.
We named our startup Ratio because we believe in extending what people can do rather than replacing them. The right balance, or the right ratio, of human logic and AI speed can make you unbelievably productive.
Ratio drafts a strong skills-based interview kit, and the understanding of culture, team dynamics, and strategic fit still needs a human expert to make the final call.
Still learning
Building Ratio has been a crash course in practical AI, and I'm still learning every day. The technology will keep changing. The core challenge stays the same: how do we use these tools to extend what we can do and build better teams?
That's the question we're obsessed with solving.
If you're a leader working on the same problem, send me what you've tried and what broke. I read all of it.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need an engineering background to build with AI?
No. I've spent two years building an AI-powered hiring platform without one, coding alongside an AI that brings the technical speed while I bring the strategic direction and judgment. The human's expertise, intuition, and creativity are still the critical ingredients; more than once I've solved a logical problem that would have stumped the AI for hours.
Should you stick with one AI tool like ChatGPT?
No, your first tool is rarely your best tool, and it certainly shouldn't be your only one. ChatGPT became synonymous with AI because it was first, but different models have different strengths; at Ratio we rebuilt our entire infrastructure from OpenAI's models to Google's Gemini for speed, reliability, and cost. If one tool isn't working, don't get frustrated, get nimble and move on to another.
Will AI replace human judgment in hiring?
Not in the parts that matter most. Ratio drafts a strong skills-based interview kit, but the understanding of culture, team dynamics, and strategic fit still needs a human expert to make the final call. We named the company Ratio because the right balance of human logic and AI speed is what actually makes you productive.
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