AI Just Asked If You’re Okay — What Now?
When we talk about AI, the headlines often lean dramatic.
Machines outsmarting humans. Robots taking over jobs. The end of work or the world as we know it.
It’s all so… adversarial.
But what if AI isn’t here to replace us?
What if it’s here to support us — to help us do our best work, and maybe be our best selves?
We sat down with Chuka Madukwe, Senior Product Manager at EZRA, to explore how AI could actually make us more human.
Change the script
“I think it’s about making AI our helpful sidekick and not our overlord,” he says.
And that means building a productive relationship. Because there’s no putting that genie back in the bottle now.
“A tireless Robin (Batman reference) with a conscience would be a great vision,” Chuka thinks.
It’s got our back. Helps us be all we can be. Does all the grunt work without so much as the slightest murmur of discontent.
Holy neural networks, reader. Just think of the possibilities.
Freeing us from drudgery
As it turns out, adulthood involves rather more admin than we’re led to believe. Nine hours a week of it to be precise.
Even at work we’re not safe. Nearly an entire 24 hour day is frittered away on the stuff.
And let’s face it, we weren’t put on this green earth to enter data in excel all day.
Precisely the reason Chuka believes “Making boring and repetitive tasks extinct,” is one of the most exciting things AI can deliver.
That means more time to nurture personal relationships, collaborate with others, and generally do the kind of things that we are here for.
Personalizing learning
We’re natural born knowledge sponges, geared up to learn from day dot. Yet how often do we sit through oversubscribed and under-resourced classrooms only to get out the other side realizing we’ve picked up the sum total of diddly squat?
AI could make this a thing of the past thanks to its ability to “…personalize your learning experience,” Chuka tells us.
You get a personal tutor. You get a personal tutor. Everybody gets a personal tutor! One that knows the exact quantity of carrot to dangle. The precise amount of stick to wield. And one that won’t lag horribly post-lunch or the next day after a team happy hour.
Reflecting on us
Of course it’s not all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, “We need to think about fairness, transparency, and accountability,” cautions Chuka.
Which to be honest, haven’t exactly been society’s historical strong suits. But there’s a silver lining here. Because AI holds up a mirror to us. It’s programmed by us. Trained on our data.
In other words, to make AI fairer, more transparent, and more accountable, we need to embody that ourselves.
“This involves engaging diverse voices in its development so that it’s inclusive and has a robust view of what’s ethical,” Chuka points out.
And that can only be a good thing.
A facilitator for our humanity
We’re already in a place where “You can use AI-powered apps to manage your finances, plan your workouts, or even learn a new language,” as Chuka says.
Add in a dollop more progress, a sprinkle of quantum computing and things are going to start getting really wild.
But while we understandably get excited about what AI can do, perhaps just as importantly we should ask ‘What’s the point?’.
If the answer is to help us use and improve our emotional intelligence, empathy, creativity, intuition, and all those things that make us uniquely human, then it’s not something to be feared. It’s something to embrace with open arms.