Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

You've heard it before. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

History has plenty of proof.

Radium. In the 1920s it was the miracle of the day. People drank it as a health tonic. Factory workers painted it onto watch dials so they'd glow. They were taught to shape the brush tip with their lips, so they swallowed a little radium every time. Many of them got sick and died.

Leaded gas. Lead went into gasoline in the early 1920s because it made engines run better. The US didn't ban it for cars and trucks until 1996.

Asbestos. It went into homes, schools and ships because it doesn't burn. We're still paying to tear it out.

Every one of them worked. That was the problem. Nobody stopped to ask what else it would do. Jurassic Park said it best. They were so busy asking if they could, they never asked if they should.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Spider-Man made that line famous, but the idea is a lot older. And AI is a powerful tool.

We all have a responsibility to manage AI, and to use it in a way that's good for the people around us. I think most people want to do right with it. They sit down, open ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot, and get to work on what they think is right.

But a real product has a lot of moving parts. Applications, databases, servers, the cloud. Set an agent loose to build it without the right tools and the right context, and two things happen. You get something you didn't want. And it takes a lot longer than it should have.

Think of it like forklift training.

You don't send someone onto the factory floor with a forklift until they understand the damage they can do with it. That isn't just good sense. In the US, OSHA requires the training before anyone drives one.

AI deserves the same respect. If you're about to build with it, or roll it out across your whole company, please think about training first. Give it the room, not the house, and teach your people how to set the walls.

Sources: EPA, "EPA Takes Final Step in Phaseout of Leaded Gasoline", January 29, 1996. OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.178(l), operator training.