I Love AI. I Just Love Humans More.

Why I believe the greatest opportunity in artificial intelligence has very little to do with becoming more like machines.

I have a confession to make. I've become a little obsessed with artificial intelligence. Okay, maybe more than a little. I've spent much of my career figuring out how to make complicated things work better, so when technology comes along that allows me to explore ideas, solve problems, and create things that previously required enormous amounts of time and resources, I get a little excited.

And by a little excited, I mean I might actually be working toward becoming the queen of the machines. But something interesting has happened as I've spent more time working with AI. The more capable the technology becomes, the more fascinated I am by the things that make us human.

I know that sounds like a strange observation coming from someone who loves technology, but stay with me.

The difference between having answers and understanding problems

One of the things I've always loved about my work is figuring out what problem we're actually trying to solve. That might sound obvious, but I've found that the problem someone initially brings to you isn't necessarily the one they most need help with.

A business might believe it has a sales problem when the real challenge is an operating process that makes it nearly impossible to deliver on what the sales team is promising. A leader might think an employee isn't performing when the person has never been given the tools, clarity, or support needed to succeed.

And sometimes someone asks for a solution when what they really need is a person who will listen long enough to understand what they're experiencing. I've built much of my career around connecting those dots. AI gives us incredible new ways to analyze information, evaluate possibilities, and turn ideas into action. It can help us move faster and extend capabilities in ways I find genuinely extraordinary.

But having more answers doesn't eliminate the importance of asking better questions. If anything, I think it makes that skill more valuable.

What happens when we combine human understanding with machine capability?

I've been building an AI team to help me create the next chapter of my business, MC Speaks 2.0. And before you picture a room full of robots wearing matching blazers, let me explain. What fascinates me isn't simply automating tasks. It's the idea that I can bring decades of experience, intuition, judgment, relationships, and creativity to a problem and combine those things with tools capable of doing work at a scale I couldn't accomplish alone.

My AI can help me organize ideas, challenge assumptions, research possibilities, create systems, and turn concepts into useful work. But I still have to decide what matters. I still have to recognize the human implications of a decision, understand the context that doesn't always appear in a spreadsheet, and determine whether solving a problem is actually going to make someone's life or business better. That's the relationship I find exciting. Not human versus machine. Human with machine.

What are we going to do with all that horsepower?

Here's the question I've been asking myself. If technology gives us the ability to accomplish more with less effort, what are we going to do with that freedom? Are we simply going to raise expectations and fill every available hour with more work? Or are we going to use some of that newfound capacity to create healthier organizations, build stronger relationships, pursue meaningful ideas, and spend more time actually living?

Because if we use extraordinary technology to create a world where people are even more exhausted, isolated, and disconnected, I think we've missed a pretty incredible opportunity. I want business leaders to think about that. I want us to be excited about efficiency and profitability, but equally curious about what becomes possible for the people inside our organizations.

I want someone running a small business to have access to capabilities they could never have afforded before. I want experienced professionals to be able to spend less time on administrative work and more time using the judgment and expertise that make them valuable.

And personally? I'd like to build a meaningful business, make a real impact, and still have time to go on adventures, read books, cook dinner, and occasionally do absolutely nothing. That sounds like a pretty fantastic return on investment to me.

The human advantage

I've been thinking about the phrase The Human Advantage because it captures something I believe deeply. Our humanity is not a limitation that technology needs to overcome. It's an extraordinary source of value that technology can help us express. Our curiosity, empathy, judgment, imagination, relationships, and ability to find meaning in things are not obstacles to productivity. They're part of what makes our work worth doing.

So yes, I'm going to keep exploring AI. I'm going to build things, break things, learn a ridiculous amount, and probably get overly excited about new capabilities that most people would consider deeply nerdy. But I hope I never become so fascinated by what machines can do that I forget why I wanted to use them in the first place.

Because at the end of the day, I don't want to become more machine. I want technology to help us become more fully human. Preferably with neon nails.

With heart,

Marissa