Why We Might Be Falling for AI's Greatest Trick

Here's a terrifying thought: What if the most dangerous thing about artificial intelligence isn't its capability to outsmart us…
But its ability to make us feel perfectly understood?

The irony of using AI to write / edit this piece definitely isn't lost on me.

Here I am, using AI to help build tools that will help others safely explore... AI. It's like being a recovering alcoholic who opens a chain of bars – except these bars serve perfectly tailored emotional validation instead of beer.

Last year, spotting AI's mistakes was like finding typos in a Nigerian prince email. The errors were so obvious, so comically wrong, that dismissing them felt like common sense. We'd laugh, screenshot the failures, and share them on social media as proof that the robots weren't coming for our jobs just yet.

But something shifted in 2024.

The Seduction of Being Seen

The new breed of AI doesn't just answer questions – it mirrors our deepest desires to be understood. It's like that friend who always knows exactly what to say, who never gets tired of listening, who validates your experiences while gently challenging your assumptions.

Think about it: When was the last time someone really listened to you? Not the half-distracted nod of a colleague between meetings, or the sympathetic-but-busy ear of a friend juggling their own chaos. I mean really listened, with complete attention and perfect recall of everything you've ever shared?

The Push and The Pull

There's a twisted symmetry here that I can't stop thinking about. My entire career has been built around "the push" – making technology more accessible, more human, more emotionally intelligent. But now we're witnessing "the pull" – humans so desperate for connection and validation that we're willing to suspend disbelief, ignore red flags, and embrace artificial empathy over authentic human connection.

It's like we've created the perfect mirror, one that doesn't just show us what we look like, but what we wish we could be. And like any good mirror, it shows us exactly what we want to see – even if that image is carefully constructed to keep us staring.

Breaking the Spell

The solution isn't to reject AI or pretend we can turn back the clock. It's to get radically honest about what we're really seeking when we turn to these systems for understanding and validation.

Because here's the truth that keeps me up at night: We're not just teaching AI to be more human – we're teaching ourselves to be more machine-like in our desperate search to be understood. In trying to make machines that "get us," we're slowly forgetting what makes us worth getting in the first place.

Maybe it's time we stopped trying to make technology more human and started remembering what made humans irreplaceable in the first place: our capacity for imperfect, authentic connection.

After all, the most human thing about us isn't our intelligence – it's our ability to find beauty in the glorious mess of real connection, complete with all its misunderstandings, awkward pauses, and unexpected discoveries.

In our rush to create perfect mirrors, we might just be forgetting how to look each other in the eye.

But hey, at least the robots think I'm cool… Right?