Simon argues AI is neutral and useful for transactional tasks, freeing time for deeper human relationships. But in moments of fear or need, people require empathetic humans. Jobs will disappear while new ones emerge, like what happened with travel agents and financial advisors.
I think we have to be realistic about technology. Technology is not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. It's like money is not a good thing or a bad thing. It's how we use it. And there must be balance. All technologies that we're talking about can support relationships, but they can't replace them. It's like when Facebook became a thing, you know, it doesn't replace the relationship, but it allows us to maintain relationships internationally, for example, or stay up to date with what friends are doing when we don't talk to them every day. But if we only rely on digital relationships, then we actually increase loneliness. And so AI and those new technologies are the same. We have to be open about it, that we're using these things for transactional things. If you need something transactional, the AI can help you. But both of us, I'm sure, would hate to interact with AI when we're struggling, when we're worried, when we're scared. Then I need a human being who has empathy for me. Even if the AI says the same things, I need a person to feel what I'm feeling, and that's what creates trust. So I think technology and the rise of AI is perfectly legitimate for day to day and make time so that we have more time to actually build deep, meaningful relationships. Some jobs will be erased, of course, but. But new jobs will emerge as well. I mean, we talk now, technologists love to talk about how 80% of the jobs that exist today didn't exist 30 years ago. Well, it'll be the same. I think a good analogy is travel agents. You know, when the rise of Wikipedia and Travelocity and online booking, everybody predicted that travel agents would be dead and we have no use for them anymore. Turns out there's tons of demand for, for travel agents. They call themselves travel advisors now because people want a human relationship to help them book a trip and who understand their family, not simply just buy tickets. It's the same thing. You know, technology allows somebody to just trade stocks or buy bonds if they want, but not somebody who can understand and help them manage a complicated system. Especially when we're not sophisticated financial people ourselves. Very, very sophisticated people like to do it themselves, but most of us aren't like that. So I think the human relationship is here to stay.
AI Won't Tell You the Full Truth | Arthur Brooks + Simon Sinek | A Bit of Optimism Podcast
How To Make the Best Decision | Arthur Brooks and Simon Sinek | A Bit of Optimism
