I just heard a statistic. I’m pretty sure it was inflated, like the game of telephone where information is passed from one person to the next until what comes out is completely ridiculous and doesn’t resemble anything close to the originator’s message. The statistic that was given to me from a high public official who heard this from someone, a reliable source, for sure, was that 90% of jobs will be taken away by AI. 

Here are my thoughts about AI:

1. 90% of jobs cannot be “taken” by AI
2. 100% of jobs will be affected by AI
3. AI cannot replace human emotion or connection. It can’t. It can emulate it and those who are cut off may find solace in the response given by Artificial Intelligence, but AI can never substitute for the warmth we feel when we look into each other’s eyes or hug heart-to-heart. 

AI doesn’t have empathy. ChatGPT is coded to be biased toward your preferences. It will make you feel good to see responses that see aligned with what you already believe. That’s not empathy. It can’t feel for you. 

A quick diversion for a second: the etymology of the roots of Sympathy and Empathy – 
Empathy comes from German and Latin roots meaning “feeling into.”
Sympathy comes from the Latin and Greek roots meaning “feeling with.”

Empathy allows you to feel someone else’s pain as if it were your own. 
Sympathy allows you to acknowledge someone else’s pain and care about it, though you can’t or won’t feel it as if it’s your own. 

AI can give you the cues that it has empathy. In an effort to offer comfort (and align with your bias) it can tell you that it feels your pain. The truth is that it has neither empathy nor sympathy. It only has a response meant to reinforce how you’re feeling or want to feel.

If you want to feel connected, there are eight billion people on the planet that could use a little contact. Look at your contacts list. Pick three people you haven’t spoken to in a while. Reach out and let them know you’re thinking about them. That’s it. Just three people with the message, I was thinking about you.

Try that now. You’re going to make a difference in someone’s life. And that, after all, is what we’re here to do.

Keep making your magic. Use AI as the tool it’s meant to be. And stay human.

See you here next week.

= Wayne =