Living alongside AI
AI is becoming part of everyday life.
We can ask it a question, get help with a task, find information, create something or simply have a conversation. For many of us, it is becoming another thing we can turn to throughout the day.
I’m curious about what it will be like to live alongside something that is always available to us.
When help is always there
There was a time when we had to work things out ourselves, ask another person or simply wait.
Now we can ask AI.
We can have help with an idea while we're having it. Find an answer when we're wondering. Get suggestions when we're unsure what to do next. Having that help can be useful.
Yet perhaps we're still learning what it means to have something so readily available.
When AI becomes part of our habits
We may begin to turn to AI without thinking much about it.
A question comes into our mind and we ask. We have something to write and we ask for help. We don't know what to make for dinner, where to go or what to say, so we ask. Our attention can become accustomed to having somewhere to turn.
Perhaps we won't always notice when we're doing it.
Making space for ourselves
Living alongside AI doesn't have to mean using it for everything.
There will still be things we want to think about ourselves, work out with another person or simply experience without assistance.
We might want to sit with a question. Have a conversation without looking for the right words. Make something without asking how it should be done.
Sometimes we may want help.
Sometimes we may want to see what happens when we stay with something ourselves.
Staying aware
AI is becoming another part of the world around us competing for our attention, alongside our phones, messages, notifications, news and everything else that asks us to look.
Perhaps living alongside it means becoming a little more aware of when we turn towards it.
What are we asking it to do? What has our attention? Is there something else we might want to notice first?
Living alongside AI
We don't yet know exactly how AI will change our everyday lives.
Perhaps we don't need to know.
We can notice what is changing as we go. We can enjoy what AI makes easier while remaining aware of the things we still want to experience, think about, create and do for ourselves. Our attention will naturally be drawn towards what is new, useful and available.
Perhaps sometimes the kindest thing we can do is notice where our attention is, before deciding where to give it next.
I wonder what you might notice as AI becomes a more ordinary part of your everyday life.