There are three things that humans bring to the table that AI cannot do:
- The ability to say no
- The ability to have emotional intelligence
- The ability to have an emotional investment to the outcome
As you know, I’ve been tooting the horn for keeping your soul while using AI for a while – even sharing a story of AI simulating empathy for the loss of my son. But recently, I heard a good friend (Corey Harris) speak on the subject of AI and Empathy. He’s got some really important ideas. He also mentioned its inability to say “no” – “That’s exactly the right way to think about this, Stuart!” Yuck. And it got me thinking. The other thing AI can’t do is give a shit.
AI Doesn’t Care
Like I said, AI doesn’t give a shit.
AI is just spitting out one word at a time. That’s all it’s doing. So humans can never give up those three things to AI:
- The ability to say no
- The soft skill of emotional intelligence
- The ability to be emotionally invested in what we’re doing
That third one matters more than people realize.
AI never cares about what it’s doing. It has no conscience. No consciousness. It’s not thinking about what it means to be doing what it’s doing. As soon as it finishes a task, it’s done. There’s nothing there afterward.
A human is different.
When a human goes into a project, they bring their own unique experience, passions, skills, and perspective into the situation. A human can push back a little and say, “No, I don’t like that idea,” because that human is bringing something personal – their heart – into the process.
Really, AI has none of that other than the skill of generating words.
Humans Understand Emotional Context
A human understands emotional context around what is being asked and what is being created. A human understands nuance. A human understands tension. And a human cares.
Honestly, sometimes humans care too much. Some of us get a little codependent with our work and projects. Again, speaking from experience. But that emotional investment is still part of what makes human creativity, leadership, and collaboration meaningful.
That’s also why a lot of people feel strange when they first start using AI.
Maybe you’ve caught yourself apologizing to ChatGPT after asking it to rewrite something:
“Sorry, that’s not really what I was looking for.”
Which is funny if you think about it, because the AI does not care at all.
But you do.
That reaction comes from emotional intelligence. It comes from emotional investment. It comes from the very human instinct to relate, connect, and care about interactions, even when the thing on the other side is just software.
Don’t Give Yourself Away
To be clear, I’m not saying we shouldn’t use AI. We absolutely should.
AI is an incredibly powerful tool. Not everybody is a writer. Not everybody can create graphics, images, content, or systems from scratch. AI has opened doors for people who otherwise wouldn’t have had access to those capabilities.
That’s a good thing.
What we need to make sure of is that we use AI without giving ourselves – our souls – away in the process.
Don’t give away your ability to be discerning and say no.
Don’t give away your emotional intelligence.
Don’t give away your emotional investment in the work.
Keep all of that.
Bring your passion into the process. Bring your background, your experience, your unique perspective, and your skills into what you create. Then let AI help you do it faster and maybe even a little better.
But don’t forget the difference between you and the machine.
The machine does not care about the outcome.
You do.
Helping businesses that do good do even good-er.