At a conference recently, a speaker selling the advances in AI said from the stage: “You will have a bestselling book written for you in under 15 minutes. Who of you would like that?”
“Not me,” I mumbled, wondering who would want to read it. Maybe only more AI. It’s like getting a robot to complete the Comrades Marathon for you, or running your vocals through autotune.
What counts most is not the sales, the author status, or even the book itself, but the personal transformation that comes from the journey of writing it. What do you have otherwise? Fifteen minutes of fame?
Having said that, I have been using AI to great effect, taking my work to a new level. Yet it makes me more certain of my humanity, more rooted in my creativity, and more in love with the real writing of my own books and those I do with companies.
Technology is a game-changing enabler, but it serves to highlight my personal voice and the flawed mastery I have crafted from a touch of talent through a lifetime of devotion and turbulence. It also confronts corporations with becoming more human.
Your individual or collective voice cannot be procured or outsourced in a few digital minutes. I work on mine every day, and each sentence speaks from lived experience. One article like this can take me months to write, which is what speaks to you where you need to be heard.
Heart and soul combined with sustained best effort make us who we are, and bring what Nietzsche referred to as, “Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his blood.” Technology has no heart, soul or blood. It is all head, all externalised mind at accelerating processing speed.
Human consciousness is beyond mind, and we need to embody the fullness of who we truly are now. Technology compels it. This is our stand at this defining time, which amounts to every human and brand slowing down and inhabiting their genius. Everything else has been done before and takes under 15 minutes to curate.
In human history, tools have always been reflections of our cognitive complexity. When the first rock was used to crack open a nut, it mirrored the level of thought in the evolving primate. Later, when industrialisation revolutionised production, the collective mind became commensurately mechanical.
The proliferation of computers reflected further skewing towards thinking at the expense of feeling and being, and digital processing pointed to how pressingly we needed to restore holistic wisdom. In perspective, machines could serve us, otherwise they would consume us.
We need to be authentic humans, open portals to the new, the original, the meaningful and the inspired. And AI gives us the full go-ahead to do so. The awakening is ours to actualise
AI pervading the planet reflects thought ruling our inner world, and the antidote is wholeness, with feeling, meaning and sovereignty aligned to characterise the new humanity. Mind is a tool, while heart, soul and consciousness are our essence. They are where our power, compassion and future lie, and must be our lived reality.
When we mistake ourselves for what we think, we live in virtual reality, which makes us susceptible to manipulation, if not outright control. We become robots by false identification. Our obligation is to command our own organic, emotional and spiritual intelligence.
We need to be authentic humans, open portals to the new, the original, the meaningful and the inspired. And AI gives us the full go-ahead to do so. The awakening is ours to actualise.
Creativity is distinct, and human value is satisfying to give and receive. When I produce books, I advise contributors that the process transforms them as writers so that it transforms their readers. Without this sincerity and alchemy, the outcome is lifeless. With it, magic happens.
This means inhabiting and expressing your uniqueness, as an individual and an organisation. Tools can empower this but not usurp the people doing it. Keep presence primary and put your authentic foot forward.
“Anything that just costs money is cheap,” said John Steinbeck. We created AI and it remains subordinate to a responsible humanity in which we actualise in service of global prosperity.
“Anything that has real and lasting value is always a gift from within,” said Franz Kafka. So take your time and bring us your genius for a living.
• Wheeler brings humanity and creativity to business through talks, projects and books
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