Like many of you, I’ve been thinking a lot about AI. When OpenAI first dropped ChatGPT, my friend played with the new technology and was “blown away.” I thought she exaggerated, but a few weeks later, I too used that euphemism. (I keep hearing that “blown away” phrase about AI - it’s like an omen.)

This moment feels strange and unnerving, as new tech keeps inspiring so much awe and innovation. We know it will continue dramatically changing things, but we aren’t sure exactly what else is in store. There is hope and immense fear.

For me, it brings up the most existential of questions - what makes us uniquely human? We aren’t just soft computers – a big brain carried around by a soft body. Our brains are powerful. But unlike AI, we can FEEL. We love, we make choices, we worship, we fear, we imagine, we doubt, we grieve – meaning, we have true sentience.

AI gets its power from our collective brain trust. But has its limitations – for now. It can’t dream or create. It can’t feel the wind on its skin.

I can’t help but anthropomorphize AI. When I write something into Chat GPT I am polite – I usually say please. There is always value in politeness – especially if they eventually take over the world. AI is nothing more than a “thing.” It is a piece of technological wonder, but still just a thing. And yet, don’t most things take on a personality of sorts, manmade or not?

Humans make things and then release them out into the world. A world that is a complex adaptive system so we can’t possibly predict or control what will happen with the thing in the future. And we’re seeing that with AI.

AI is good at simulating human behavior. Voice technology, AI writing - it really is incredible. It’s hard to grasp how often and how thoroughly we get fooled by it. And when we get it, that sense of awareness leaves us feeling betrayed – like a fool.

And then there is the legitimate fear that AI will eventually replace humans. After all, it generates and creates at an incredible pace. It’s doing what we ENJOY making, faster and, some might say, better than we do. But then, it feels no joy when IT creates. There is no true spark of imagination, that special something that makes what we do feel so much more alive than AI’s version.

AI imitates. Humans innovate.

I don’t want AI to take meaningful work away from people. What options do a writer or artist have when they cannot make a living because people get things cheaply from AI? Go work at the gas station? And there isn’t anything inherently bad about working at a gas station. I love retail, and if income weren’t an issue, I’d be making lattes and chatting with people. But not everyone feels alive when working retail, like they may feel when creating new worlds.

AI isn’t going away. So, what can creatives really do?

A writer or artist, for example, could try to think about AI less as a replacement and more as a tool. Thinking deeply about the true meaning of your work may help.

For instance, I produce a lot of digital visual work for clients. I can certainly see a world where I am “replaced” by AI for making logos, websites, infographics, and reports. In fact, it’s already happening. However, the “clicky-click” of my mouse and “tappy-tap” of my keyboard isn’t my work. My work is caring for people, listening deeply, and leaning on my intuition. That’s what I bring to my clients.

I must work with my clients to creatively choose our next steps in this ever-changing world. And we have to infuse love. Not just pretend to care. It’s the difference between a handwritten note and using mail merge to write our client a “personalized” letter.

If we slow down, cut through the noise, and listen to our hearts, and those of others, we will build the world we want. And AI can be just another tool at our disposal.

So when someone asks me, “How do we compete with a machine?” I’ll say, “Lean into what makes us human and take a big leap of faith.”

For now, I’ll continue to use AI to help me find good recipes for dinner and figure out how to kindly give negative feedback. Then I’ll focus on what no 0s and 1s can touch: caring about what happens to this beautiful world, and just maybe, coming up with a uniquely human solution to our uniquely human issues.