Are you bored of AI yet?

Or at least wanting a different perspective?

Repeating something we humans are bored of hearing: “Artificial Intelligence is here to forever manage our lives and work – and more.”

This isn’t your average kind of boredom, though. This is a never before seen kind of boredom. A boredom that has our full attention.

Boredom is an energy. A powerful influencer (without a social media profile) boasting a long list of things it has inspired us to accomplish: change job, relationships, homes, fashions, foods, friends … our minds. It never ends when boredom begins.

Fortunately, some humans are also saying I am bored of things being this way. And off they go starting new companies, business models, better solutions to bigger, more creative ideas, and inspiring other humans to do the same. (Did boredom inspire AI? Asking for a friend.)

How is AI boring?

We’re only two years into ChatGPT’s earth landing. We can’t be bored already … can we?

“AI is taking over!” A soundbite masquerading as a living, breathing story. Headlines, media chatter, clickbait … it fills our screens predicting our downfall (click to read more about your downfall).

What gives and what needs to change – inside and outside of the office and other places where humans gather (on and off screens)? “I’m bored … so I’m going to … [insert what you are going to do here].”

Decision time on the future of the human story. How do we want to be the biggest contributors to our better story? A story that we build and own? To begin with, our participation in AI’s evolution (and revolution) must change. We’ve always been the biggest contributors to our evolving story. With the emergence of this sub-species, what can we do to exert our human influences over the evolving AI story?

Rise up for the Humanaivolution.

And bring your imagination to this participation.

Participation is an action word. What you’ve learned, what you’ve gained, how you’ve grown, been inspired … evolved … begins and ends with participation. It’s a valuable human resource and it’s wanted everywhere. Companies want our buying participation; politicians want our votes; screens want our attention; relationships want our love … AI wants our knowledge.

When boredom takes control it does so by attacking the story … our participation … our feelings.

Here are a few familiar refrains:

I don’t understand this. Too confusing. I don’t get where this is going. Not interesting. Wrong! I’m not in the mood for this. This reminds me of [insert who or what upset you]. This isn’t good. I can do this better.

When any (or all – or more) of that thinking sets in, we have a decision to make. It’s our story after-all.

There … over there!

As we gaze across our Monday morning landscape with an extra strong Monday morning coffee, what do we see – or imagine seeing – as we prepare for a meeting, a call, an interview, a commute? (Results may vary, consult your story on Tuesday.)

Asked from a different angle, what does AI see? We know it’s working somewhere in the background (learning about our double espresso love), staring directly at, beyond, beside, behind and above us. That’s what we trained it to do.

Look at me and learn, AI. Tell me what you see.

Sure, coming right up, human.

What now and what it means

Whether invasive intrusion or life-changing inclusion, in AI we have a hard-charging challenge that is dividing the workplace into the human and the not.

The not has an objective: So you know, we will soon sound, behave and act more human than humans. The pledge – crafted by a human acting on behalf of the not human: AI will know you better than you know yourself. A lofty, unstoppable (human created) AI ambition that leaves the human thinking: What if they succeed?

What-if indeed. The answer to the as yet unanswerable, elevates AI’s ambitions to a code red (nervous) debate: what about our jobs, livelihoods … futures … the state of the entire human race? Has the time come to replace us with something synthetic or robotic or sexy synthetic robotic?

Something stunningly assembled as a greatest hits package from the centuries of stupid human errors? This is the best of the best. And so you know, humans, AI will never make those same kinds of (boring) human mistakes. (But what if it does? Okay, never mind.)

Opportunity … perhaps?

Our emotions and feelings are shouting at us… louder and louder as AI pours in unobstructed through the digital pipes buried deep in our screens from places we can never reach. The great promise of the (now ancient) information superhighway reborn as a digital autobahn that will never set speed limits (or so my German friends insist).

Contrary to what some might believe, we humans do make decisions based on emotions. All the time.

Emotions and feelings are the first important step in the decision-making process.

How we are made to feel (by something that made us feel that way) kicks it all off. Participation influencer fact one: A decision never arrives without first feeling it. Keynesian economics referred to this as “animal spirits” and the economists and Akerlof and Shiller wrote about in a 2009 book.

One of those key emotional spirits is the impact of story. We make decisions from the emotions that stories generate for us individually. 8 billion humans on the planet but we are alone out there reacting to what we “emotionally hear”: the rumbling in our stomach, the pounding of our pulse, the beating of our heart, the bouncing of our brainwaves … I’m definitely feeling it. Connecting our individuality to the individuality of others is not an easy process. But it’s how we’ve always lived and worked and survived and grown (and celebrated and had fun!) as a species.

Ultimately, we are story-loving humans. Always have been, always will be. Our stories (and my keystrokes right now) are being closely observed and assessed by a Generative AI that we birthed into our world. We created this story because we are a restless, curious species who have always been great creators of things – using our always on imaginations and creative decision-making from which endless discoveries have come.

To be sure, the volume on our animal spirits, quoting the timeless classic, Spinal Tap, “goes to 11” and this will only get louder as we compete with AI to be heard (let’s take it to 12, shall we?). Not sure how AI feels about that competition, or what compete even means to them, but we humans do know how to turn up the volume to push our point and win.

If you feel something is worth your attention, you’ll go further and explore it with your full (volume) attention, even if just for a few seconds – before you take your feelings elsewhere. As Stanley Kubrick said when discussing his 1968 cinematic masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey :“The feel of the experience is the important thing, not the ability to verbalize or analyze it.”

What about data? Data is not feeling, data is proof. Yes. Agreed. The numbers don’t lie – well, hopefully not. You might land on some data that says, Hey! this is the reason we are doing this. But you wouldn’t have gotten to the data point had it not been for an emotional event – a feeling – that started your Jonny Quest journey to the centre of the data.

The gaps between unemotional AI and emotional humans are generating all kinds of feelings that we must keep an eye on – AI certainly is … keep those emotions coming, we love what we are learning! What the gaps – big, small, or medium-sized as they may be – have created, is an opportunity to seize upon a new emotional territory that is wide-open and (very) ready for development.

New emotions to explore? New territories for new feelings? Is that (humanly) possible?

As possible as creating this once far out Frankenstein of an idea called artificial intelligence that has long since left the lab.

Okay, I’m listening.

The Humanaivolution calls this new territory the last mile human communications

Not last mile as in logistics last mile (your Amazon package is arriving soon, don’t worry); and not last mile as in the end or the finish line last mile.

This last mile is the beginning

The beginning of communications possibilities created by human decision-making and discovery – and plenty of imagination, raw emotion and energy.

We are curious beings. And that curiosity charts way back to when our hunched over ancestors roamed the earth for food, pausing to make shelters and babies and stories (which they published on stone tablets and cave walls).

What happens when AI starts becoming curious – like I mean really, really human curious – what then? Will they discover that with curiosity comes the occasional bouts of human energy known as boredom? What happens when AI gets bored? Where do we take those discussions – when all the good caves are already occupied or overpriced?

There is new curiosity to be found in the new last mile

The last mile is the new terrain for the new-era in human communications. Emotionally we will need to travel to the last mile. We can do it, we can get there, we can imagine it. Besides, travel has always been one of our greatest strengths – and a popular solution to boredom. (Mars soon! Earth is getting boring.)

Last mile human communications explained in 3 bullet points

(Bullet points: AI’s Pac-Man for learning; new high scores daily in the Humanaivolution)

· A strategy and philosophy for rethinking, reshaping, and reinspiring human communications productivity

· A place where storytelling as human problem-solving can thrive and grow and evolve in the Humanaivolution

· A bridge that connects artificial intelligence to human intelligence. An emotionally acknowledged place that humans can defend in the Humanaivolution – not against the AI enemy, but in search of human and AI allies

In the spirit of AI skills, I will be extracting problem-solving value from these bullet points and expanding the evolving Humanaivolution story.

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… We’re back in the age of wonder and discovery once again. Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI co-founder.

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Last mile human to human communication … how did it begin?

In 2014, I introduced the concept of last mile communications while directing SceneThinking™ strategic storytelling workshops for corporations and governments in Asia Pacific.

At that time, I defined the last mile as:

The distance between company strategy and end-user decision-making.

Professionally structured Scenes (capital ‘S’) and stories unlocked problem-solving value, helping clients rethink their existing (and future) content, shaping Scenes into 3-minute story deliveries that could be expanded (or reduced) – including into 15-second Scene pitches to replace the boring elevator pitch.

“Put me in the Scene” … where the story lives and breathes.

We need to be inside the story (feeling it) to connect to the story. And Scenes are the ultimate company insider that you’ll want to get to know (very) well.

A decade on and SceneThinking in the last mile is not a boundary – it’s a solution:

It’s a place where decision-making meets discovery in the Humanaivolution.

The last mile is an opportunity to transform what humans need in order to build a more sustainable and inspiring communications landscape.

Companies answer to humans (boards, investors, customers …) and AI answers to … no one – except maybe an all-powerful Oz ruler shouting instructions behind an impenetrable curtain.

(C) The Wizard of Oz 1939

AI implementation is still (for now) a human decision. We can assume we know what the AI will do when we design it that way (efficiency, productivity, cost-cutting, less time wasting, etc.).

Last mile human communications asks us to be more conscious of the what-ifs. We’re an imaginative species, we have history with what-ifs. What-ifs are not going away. Ask your favourite AI about that, they love a good what-if.

In the Humanaivolution, let’s defend our imaginations in a place that we can point to as “imaginably defensible”: the last mile.

Our imaginations can start by acknowledging the irony of our dual role in AI creation: we are the designers and the participators of our growing workplace threat.

Today, when companies communicate with humans, they are speaking to central figures in the development and delivery of the AI machine; humans who use social media and search; rely on chatbots, even their home appliances for instruction (my fridge, it’s shouting at me). We humans are filling the funnel of a future with an AI that knows nothing of boundaries.

Humans have always lived with boundaries – since we started imaginatively drawing them on cave walls. Boundaries have led to wars (and tragically still do). Rather than start wars with AI (or anyone), let’s defend, celebrate, and expand one of our most critical human resources: our storytelling expertise. (It is in our animal instincts – and spirits – after-all.)

Stories, and the power of Scenes to make stories come alive, are immensely useful and important human assets.

AI knows – and cherishes – the value of our Scene and story assets. Our greatest human asset has been AI’s greatest learning centre. Give us more stories, humans. Coming right up, AI! (Though according to Gizmodo.com, “ChatGPT has ingested pretty much the entire internet already.”)

So what happens to human to human communications when AI has learned enough to take charge? Will the HI (human intelligence) still be communicating with the AI. Or will the AI instruct the HI on how the AI wants to be communicated with? If that’s the case, how do we humans want to be communicated with? Hey HI, start talking – really talking – to the AI.

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To be a human being among people and to remain one forever, no matter in what circumstances, not to grow despondent and not to lose heart – that’s what life is all about, that’s its task. Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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A chance to capitalize on our shared vulnerability

In my 2010 book, SpeakingEnergy: Public Speaking for Humans ... Finally! I discussed vulnerability as strength. In public speaking forums everyone is vulnerable – not just the speaker/presenter. Audiences attend hoping the speaker(s) serve them with discovery; a Scene to be taken away and shared with colleagues. And it only takes one Scene to change everything.

At the time of my book’s release, I started to rethink the well-used phrase “less is more.”

My conclusion: Inspire with less, have a conversation with more. A working definition for companies to start bringing shorter, easier-to-understand Scenes into their storytelling; inspire me to want more after I “feel the value of less.”

The explosive growth and influence of GenAI is amplifying our shared vulnerability. Everyone is aware of the seismic shifts happening. The cliché – only because it’s true: We are in this together.

The town hall … the fireside chat. Popular platforms for companies to get closer to their people – inside and outside the firm.

Are we bored of the town hall and fireside chat? Well, we have seen a lot of them. Probably time for a change – certainly an upgrade.

Do those gatherings spring a surprise? We need them to. How else will our attention be fully captured? Humans hunger for the different that comes from the surprise. The best surprises create the best stories. (Is AI that best surprise?) Bring me into the human gathering knowing – feeling – I can be surprised enough to take away a discovery that will stick with me … a Scene I can confidently share with others.

The firm will be holding a last mile meet-up at the end of Q1. What can you expect to see?

Last mile landmarks: we will be discussing and celebrating some bold achievements and plans for taking these landmarks further into areas never explored before in our firm.

Last mile landings: we are seeing some fascinating openings now. Places from which to begin developing new story-focused communications strategies.

Last mile lanes have transformed our strategies and given us clear direction on the future expansion of our last mile human communications.

The language of the last mile matters – however we decide it should look like and sound.

I have created those ideas with collaboration in mind. And collaborate as humans we must.

The last mile is not the end … it’s the beginning.

The place for communications solutions … in composition with AI, not opposition.

AI promotes lives made better. A good cue for humans to start promoting human communications made better (and necessary and not going away) … in the space that humans will own.

Own your Scenes, own your stories.

Okay, so who is in charge of the negotiation?

We have ceded a large swath of emotional territory to AI. It has reshaped company operations. And it has only just begun.

Right now it feels like we are willing to accept anything that AI decides it will not do to us.

That list of “AI won’ts” is at best (sort of) brief and at worst (absolutely) non-existent. If AI goes too far or embarrasses its creator, the solution is to pull it back for further training.

Big tech are learning how to speak to their AI during these timeouts. Solve the harmful hallucinations – racist, bigoted, violent, sexual content, and, of course, the rise of anything fake – and send the re-educated AI back out for public (re)consumption.

Not long ago (like last year) the threat was deep fakes. We have gone way past that point now – as we forward the fakes on as entertainment, perhaps art … showing the AI how pleased we are with its work.

Negotiating our communications terrain. Humans have to decide

Unlike AI, humans have “skin in the game” – as Stephen T. Asma wrote in his fascinating book about imagination.

It’s only natural then that we need, indeed demand, some ownership of our “AI agreements.” We need a chunk of the stakes so we can feel like we are part of everything that happens in this story: all of the decisions, all of the discoveries … the wins and the inevitable losses. Our offices are full of individuals wanting in – humans with a desire to participate: decide, discover, problem-solve. What are we prepared to give to ourselves?

In the Humanaivolution, instead of hoping that we can negotiate with AI on the parts that are unnegotiable, let’s decide on what we can control to create sustainable human communications for the greater human good.

That control is in the last mile. The space for the human race.

Humanaivolution celebrates human ingenuity and storytelling. We will continue to drive our own decision-making and discovery … one Scene at a time.

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I would love to connect – in a way that makes most sense to you.

Is last mile human communications something your company needs to think about – or perhaps already is? What are your thoughts and ideas on the last mile and Humanaivolution? Comment or send me a message. Very curious to know what you’re thinking!

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And finally … in the spirit of last mile human communications … words from one of my favourite wordsmiths, the master 13^th Century poet, Rumi.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there.

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Acknowledging the passing of a legendary story creator who inspired me immensely — the incomparable David Lynch. There was no one more Lynchian than David Lynch