The Right Not to Ride

AI can carry people through work and learning at speeds they could not sustain alone, and its spread also raises the pace expected of people who never chose to ride. This opinion piece names that problem the right not to ride. It distinguishes two routes for not using AI: competing through one's own abilities, and leaving competition while retaining a guaranteed livelihood. Drawing on an employer's public statement about dismissing staff who did not onboard AI tools, it sets out four questions an organization can answer before making AI use a condition of work, education, or public service, and argues that education should teach acceleration together with the autonomy to decline it.