Shawn White Wolf interview with AI: Part I

Interview with AI: Part I

by Shawn White Wolf

This begins Part I of my new interview series, Interview with AI, a collection of conversations exploring where artificial intelligence is headed and what it may mean for everyday people, creators, small businesses, and communities. Over the next few weeks, I will be asking AI direct questions about agents, rapid growth, problem-solving, creativity, ethics, and the future of humanity.

This first conversation looks at two major ideas: whether AI agents represent the next chapter of artificial intelligence, and how fast AI is advancing in areas once thought to be beyond machine reasoning. The answers are hopeful, but also cautious. AI is powerful, but power without wisdom can become a problem fast.

My goal with this series is simple: to better understand AI without worshiping it, fearing it, or pretending it is going away. The future is coming, and we need to meet it with clear eyes.

Interview with AI: Question 1) I heard about people creating agents and it's the next chapter of AI. Do you agree?

Interview with AI — Question 1:

Yes, I agree — AI agents are very likely the next major chapter of AI, but I would add one big caution: people are using the word agent a little too loosely right now.

A chatbot answers questions. An AI agent is supposed to take action. That is the key difference. A real agent can plan steps, use tools, check information, complete tasks, and sometimes keep working through a process with less hand-holding from the user. IBM describes AI agents as systems that can autonomously perform tasks for a user by designing workflows and using available tools. (IBM)

So yes, this is a big shift. We are moving from:

“AI, answer my question.”to“AI, help me get this done.”

That is a whole different ballgame.

For creators, small businesses, musicians, writers, local organizations, and independent entrepreneurs, agents could become powerful helpers. An agent might help plan a release, draft posts, organize files, schedule follow-ups, research grants, update a website, or manage routine business tasks. McKinsey has described agents as moving AI from passive copilots into more proactive teammates that can monitor, trigger workflows, and follow up on actions. (McKinsey & Company)

But here is where I get skeptical: not every “agent” is ready to be trusted with the keys to the truck. Some of these tools are impressive, but they still make mistakes. They can misunderstand instructions, act on bad information, or confidently run in the wrong direction. That means humans still need to supervise them, especially when money, legal issues, health, privacy, or reputation are involved.

My honest answer is this:

Yes, AI agents are the next chapter — but the winning version will not be AI replacing people. It will be people learning how to direct AI agents wisely.

The folks who benefit most will not necessarily be the biggest companies. It may be the independent creators, small-town business owners, artists, and community builders who figure out how to use agents as practical helpers instead of shiny toys.

Bottom line: AI agents are coming fast. The smart move is not to fear them or worship them. The smart move is to learn how to manage them.

Interview with AI - Question 2: I understand that AI has been able to learn and answer some of the world's most complex mathematical equations in a short period of time. This tells humans that AI is learning rapidly and discovering ways to resolve problems unthinkable by mankind. How fast is AI growing and where do you see this going in the advancement of humanity?

Interview with AI — Question 2:

Yes, AI is growing fast — faster than most people expected — but I would be careful with one phrase in your question: AI is not “learning” like a human child learns. It is not sitting there wondering about truth, beauty, God, family, duty, or why the coffee pot always breaks on a Monday morning. AI is improving because humans are feeding it better data, better tools, more computing power, better training methods, and stronger feedback systems.

That said, the progress is real.

In mathematics, the leap has been stunning. In 2024, Google DeepMind’s AlphaProof and AlphaGeometry 2 reached a silver-medal level at the International Mathematical Olympiad by solving four of six problems, scoring 28 out of 42. By 2025, DeepMind reported that Gemini with Deep Think reached a gold-medal standard, scoring 35 out of 42 on the IMO. Stanford’s 2026 AI Index also highlights that same jump from silver to gold as a sign of major progress in reasoning — while warning that AI still has “jagged intelligence,” meaning it can solve advanced math but still fail at tasks humans find simple.

So how fast is AI growing? Very fast — but unevenly. Epoch AI reports that training compute for frontier AI models has been growing around 4 to 5 times per year, and its broader trend data says frontier language model training compute has doubled roughly every few months since 2020. That is not normal technological growth. That is a freight train with a rocket strapped to it.

But here is the honest part: AI is not advancing in a straight, clean line toward perfect wisdom. It is advancing in patches. It can be brilliant in one area and embarrassingly wrong in another. Stanford’s AI Index gives a good example: AI can now perform at gold-medal level on elite math problems, yet top models still struggle with some basic visual and time-reading tasks compared with humans.

Where do I see this going for humanity?

I believe AI will become one of the most important tools in human history — right up there with the printing press, electricity, the internet, and modern medicine. It will help discover new drugs, design better materials, assist doctors, tutor students, help small businesses, speed up scientific research, preserve languages, support disabled people, and give ordinary creators tools that used to belong only to big companies.

But I do not believe the best future is “AI replaces humanity.” That is a cheap science-fiction answer. The better future is AI extends human ability while humans remain morally responsible.

The danger is not simply that AI gets smarter. The danger is that people get lazier, institutions get greedier, and powerful groups use AI to control people instead of serving them. That is where we need clear rules, human oversight, local participation, and old-fashioned accountability. New tools still need old virtues: honesty, humility, discipline, patience, and respect for human dignity.

My view is this:

AI will advance humanity only if humanity advances its wisdom at the same time.

If we use AI as a servant, it could help solve problems we once thought were out of reach. If we turn it into a master, we will create a very expensive mess with a nice dashboard.

Bottom line: AI is growing at historic speed. The next great question is not whether machines can become more powerful. They can. The real question is whether human beings can become more responsible with that power.