#77 - Can AI Improve Resilience?
- Pawel Pietruszewski
- Apr 23
- 3 min read
Time flies fast. I recently read a comment that we’re already one-third into 2025—and it hit me. This post idea has been sitting in my notes since November last year! That’s when I came across a thought-provoking piece by Ethan Mollick, where he pointed out something that stuck with me: abundance as a defining feature of Generative AI [1].
"You can keep asking for things and making changes and it will never stop responding. This introduces something new in intellectual life, abundance."
You can request email variations in different tones, brainstorm endlessly—just ask for as many as you like.
Your job becomes one of pushing for variation (“give me ideas that are 80% weirder”), recombination (“combine ideas 12 and 16”) and expansion (“more ideas like number 12”), before selecting one you like.
What struck me most in that post wasn’t just the functionality—it was the idea of abundance. That concept sits right at the heart of resilience thinking.
Abundance and Resilience
Resilient systems require diversity — which, in turn, requires some level of redundancy [3].
Systems that can bounce back from disruption or adapt to new realities often do so because they have spare capacity, optionality, and multiple ways of responding.
Resilience is not efficient - true resilience balances productivity with the ability to diversify responses. That’s what makes systems—whether organizations or individuals—able to withstand the unexpected.
Generative AI consumes enormous amounts of energy, and I share the broader concerns about its environmental footprint within the context of planetary boundaries. But at the same time, this abundance of information, creativity, and perspective is something deeply resilient in nature.
How Generative AI Can Build Your Resilience
In a follow-up post, Ethan Mollick outlined some of the best use cases for generative AI [2]. Many of them revolve around the very characteristics that resilience depends on: high quantity, high variation, and fresh perspectives.
From a resilience perspective, here are three specific ways Generative AI can support you:
Intellectual abundance - Generative AI can serve as a perpetual engine of ideas. Whether you’re writing, building, or strategizing, the ability to instantly access creative options can extend your cognitive edge.
Devil's Advocate - Accepting reality clearly requires multiple perspectives. The U.S. Army even formalized this with a Red Team Academy, designed to inject structured dissent into decision-making. Generative AI can play a similar role—offering counterpoints, challenging assumptions, and exposing blind spots. It’s like having a personal Devil’s Advocate on duty.
Hyper-Focused Learning - AI can be a personalized tutor—laser-focused on your goals. Whether you're learning a new skill or exploring unfamiliar terrain, it adapts entirely to your pace and preferences. That level of tailored support strengthens your individual adaptability.
Whether we embrace it with excitement or concern, AI is here to stay. Used wisely, it can become a vital part of your resilience toolkit—helping you think more creatively, see more clearly, and adapt more effectively.
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