There’s a poem going around about AI. It’s beautiful. Every image in it lands perfectly.
And it’s built on an assumption of AI that I simply don’t accept.
It assumes AI is the thing you reach for instead of the living. Instead of leaning on the friend who loves to cook for a recipe and rich conversation. Instead of using your own clumsy words at your child’s wedding.
That’s one way to use it. It’s not the only way. And it’s not the one I know.
AI helped me live out the last Seventy-three days with my dad with not regrets.
Nothing left on the table. Just Pride for the way we had showed up for him.
And without AI I would have screwed it up.
I used it to organize a final farewell for his work colleagues in a way that didn’t turn into a living wake.
I used it to understand that staying in his house until the end would be a mistake. Four weeks of new routines and new rituals were important so that when the time came, those routines were what held us.
When my dad’s partner suggested a stuffed animal with his picture on it, I thought that was creepy. I was wrong. And AI helped me quickly understand the research behind that misunderstanding.
My daughters still hold theirs every night.
And we used it to work through whether my daughter belonged in the hospital room. (at just shy of 7 years old at the time, she was slightly too young. And yes that’s the precious photo of their last moments together.)
If you’re using AI to avoid human connection.
If you’re using AI to optimize that which should be enjoyed.
If you’re using AI to avoid the friction of human interaction that we all need to navigate to be…well human.
If you’re using AI to prove you’re right. Or to feel good about your thoughts. That’s just dangerous.
If you’re using AI in those ways. Then yes this man has a point.
But if you’re using AI to be more human.
To find the words that your sentiments truly mean.
To show up for your child when you can’t find a pathway through.
To be better for those in your charge, at work and at home.
Then you’re using AI in all the ways that free us up to be more fully human.
