17 Aug 2025

Adapt or die? Why only two options?

Filed under: AI | SEO | tech

I’ve been thinking about the prevalent “adapt or die” ideology within SEO, focused on AI adoption. Linkedin is rife with these takes. Because AI is here and ever-growing, we have only two choices:

• Adapt and grow with it by becoming multi-talented professionals
• Stay still and perish as the industry moves on

One of my biggest concerns is that why we’re using evolution-speak to discuss peoples’ careers. There’ll always be technological advancements and new techniques to know about but we’re using evolutionary language to describe it all. AI use is a choice (and specifically a human one); evolution and how species adapt to changing ecosystems aren’t.

I hate the “survival of the fittest” mantra so much. It’s as artificial as the intelligence that we’re supposedly living and dying by. I don’t think complete ignorance is much of an option as so much of this tech is shoved in our faces but total acceptance and adoption of every new technique isn’t the flip side of the coin either. So what do we do? Scrutinise everything that comes up, analyse every claim, and weigh up the pros and cons against ROI. Businesses should not be making a net loss from AI and offsetting it with layoffs. These AI models should be “earning their keep” so to speak.

And truth be told, they aren’t. Is this all a ploy to maintain profits? I have my opinions that aren’t my employers but if you’re serious about not offsetting technical debt to your employees and customers, you should take a step back and reflect.

No more binaries

It’s ironic that one of the biggest virtues of AI is supposed to be expansive creativity. We can have endless ideas, new approaches to work, improved concepts and automations. And yet we’re only given two options on how to get there—or not: embrace it or get left behind in a pile of dust.

A truly robust industry would have a place for everyone and welcome generalists AND specialists who can offer their own unique talents and approaches. You know, the human stuff that we should be learning to cultivate. I think the real adapt or die concept should apply to the very real human workers at the heart of tech industries and we’d do well to remember that humanity is not an unsolved problem that only machines can fix.