I'm already using AI extensively in my work, and my clients LOVE the results. I've had several tell me they don't get anything like what I give them as follow ups. I record all our calls, use TurboScribe to transcribe them, and a custom skill in Claude to give them detailed notes of what we discussed, things they are doing well, suggestions for improvement, and suggest resources from my library.
A lot of beautiful distinctions between humans and AI , with clear potential for complementary ways of working together, George. Three nuggets that really landed:
"Change requires courage. And courage is multiplied in the presence of another courageous human.
"You possess the territory… the lived and embodied experience. AI only possesses the map. Anyone who’s ever been lost in the wilderness knows the difference between a guide who has walked the terrain and someone holding a map they found online."
"They need a model of wholeness — someone who integrates light and dark, success and failure, joy and grief. Not by lecturing about it, but by being it. By showing up as a full, complex, honest human who has navigated their own darkness and come through."
For me, they all highlight the difference between types of knowledge. Knowing ABOUT (abstract knowledge) vs knowing HOW (embodied, enacted, practiced knowing).
In exponential change, the adaptive shifts humans need to make require more than exposure to information. The necessitate relational engagement and practice -- repeated, embodied choosing. Hence your point (as I understand it) ... AI can give us a helicopter tour of the journey, but we will always need the guides with tacit knowledge of the footpaths to accompany us through the dark nights of the journey.
I’ve been exploring something related in what a more feminine relationship with AI might look like, not as an authority but as a reflective mirror that amplifies intuition rather than replacing it.
It’s a conversation I’ve been developing within my work on Amplified Intuition, and your piece touches many of the same questions. Thank you for opening the dialogue.
Thank you, George, your wisdom always hits the spot and reassures me. I actually asked Chat GPT why people would pay me when it seems to do such a good coaching job! It is actually programmed to give a reassuring answer.
Thank you for this perspective and analysis George - Two things landed very much with me:
1) The fast food vs. quality food analogy. AI as the fast food element of self-developmen.
2) The idea about clearly labeling and advertising products as "AI-driven" vs "Human Connection Powered" and differentiating them also by price points.
Thank you George! You distilled the edges have having ai in our work - i feel this viscerally but couldn’t articulate it. This post is positive and heart centered 💜🙏🐎
I appreciate this counterpoint to much of what I hear and even what I think about AI. It's causing me to reflect more deeply. That's always useful. Thanks, George.
Using (or not using) AI has become deeply political. I think people are going to return to more analog lifestyles because AI makes it difficult to discern truth from non-truth online. I’m already noticing this in my own life. I am deeply against AI for ethical reasons. I don’t agree that in the future people will expect AI to be part of coaching. I don’t actually think we can accurately predict the future here.
Environment is part of it- I do like to be eco-conscious, but a bigger part is how the LLMs are being taught and what they are being trained to do. Claude was trained on 500,000 books that the authors did not give permission for. There was a big lawsuit and Anthropic settled for $1.5 billion. I find that deeply unethical and I'm surprised so many users would use AI without understanding how it is being trained, thereby almost being complicit.
Grok is/was being allowed to undress pictures of people to show them naked without these people's permission, a deep-fake porn. And this is the same AI being used in the US government. I find this all deeply disturbing.
Lastly, the executives for OpenAI were the largest donors to Donald Trump's campaign. If AI is in bed with the government, will we ever be able to create ethical laws around it?
Just like with smart phones, we barreled forward without considering the longer-term effects on our society. Now we are seeing how the use of smart phones have lead to anxiety, depression, suicidality, etc in people. We need ethical considerations BEFORE we move forward, and if we don't do that, I can't participate in the system.
As a life coach, I want MORE humanness, not less. I know there are positives to AI, but in my opinion the positives do not outweigh the negatives, so at least for now I choose to minimize the amount of AI I use/participate in. I've included some links because I know there are a lot of people spouting a lot of things about AI (and other topics). This is just a sampling.
Thank you, I feel the same way. As someone who values our innate intelligence over intellectual intelligence, I can't help but think that the problem is made clear in the label - "Artificial" intelligence, what an oxymoron!
Also the total lack of regulation is absolutely terrifying.
excellent analysis, George.
I'm already using AI extensively in my work, and my clients LOVE the results. I've had several tell me they don't get anything like what I give them as follow ups. I record all our calls, use TurboScribe to transcribe them, and a custom skill in Claude to give them detailed notes of what we discussed, things they are doing well, suggestions for improvement, and suggest resources from my library.
Awesome. Love that you are using ai to add more value to your work!
A lot of beautiful distinctions between humans and AI , with clear potential for complementary ways of working together, George. Three nuggets that really landed:
"Change requires courage. And courage is multiplied in the presence of another courageous human.
"You possess the territory… the lived and embodied experience. AI only possesses the map. Anyone who’s ever been lost in the wilderness knows the difference between a guide who has walked the terrain and someone holding a map they found online."
"They need a model of wholeness — someone who integrates light and dark, success and failure, joy and grief. Not by lecturing about it, but by being it. By showing up as a full, complex, honest human who has navigated their own darkness and come through."
For me, they all highlight the difference between types of knowledge. Knowing ABOUT (abstract knowledge) vs knowing HOW (embodied, enacted, practiced knowing).
In exponential change, the adaptive shifts humans need to make require more than exposure to information. The necessitate relational engagement and practice -- repeated, embodied choosing. Hence your point (as I understand it) ... AI can give us a helicopter tour of the journey, but we will always need the guides with tacit knowledge of the footpaths to accompany us through the dark nights of the journey.
Thank you for such a wonderful and thoughtful comment, Laureen! I appreciate that you highlighted what was particularly impactful 🙏🏼🧡
This is golden. Not only deeply re-assuring and thorough in examination but it rings true to what I am seeing emerging myself... Thank you, George!
David I'm so glad! Thanks for requesting this important topic 🙏🏼🙏🏼
George, I really appreciated this reflection.
I’ve been exploring something related in what a more feminine relationship with AI might look like, not as an authority but as a reflective mirror that amplifies intuition rather than replacing it.
It’s a conversation I’ve been developing within my work on Amplified Intuition, and your piece touches many of the same questions. Thank you for opening the dialogue.
I like that!! AI = Amplified Intuition. Brilliant.
It has been quite a journey... have written a few pieces on the subject...
Thank you, George, your wisdom always hits the spot and reassures me. I actually asked Chat GPT why people would pay me when it seems to do such a good coaching job! It is actually programmed to give a reassuring answer.
I'm so glad it helps! I just published a follow-up piece that gives ideas for services that we coaches can provide, that are more future-proofed: https://georgekao.substack.com/p/thriving-as-a-soulpreneur-in-the
Thank you for this perspective and analysis George - Two things landed very much with me:
1) The fast food vs. quality food analogy. AI as the fast food element of self-developmen.
2) The idea about clearly labeling and advertising products as "AI-driven" vs "Human Connection Powered" and differentiating them also by price points.
Great input for future product development!
Thanks Tue for your thoughtful comment! I always appreciate knowing which specific ideas are resonating 🙏🏼
Excellent post. Thank you for all the thought that you put into it.
Thanks Jane!🙏🏼
Thank you George! You distilled the edges have having ai in our work - i feel this viscerally but couldn’t articulate it. This post is positive and heart centered 💜🙏🐎
Thank you Sue! 🙏🏼🧡
I appreciate this counterpoint to much of what I hear and even what I think about AI. It's causing me to reflect more deeply. That's always useful. Thanks, George.
Thanks for reading and your kind comment David!🙏🏼
FOLLOW UP -- I just published a follow-up piece that gives ideas for services that we soulpreneurs can provide, that are more future-proofed (harder for AI to replicate) -- https://georgekao.substack.com/p/thriving-as-a-soulpreneur-in-the
Using (or not using) AI has become deeply political. I think people are going to return to more analog lifestyles because AI makes it difficult to discern truth from non-truth online. I’m already noticing this in my own life. I am deeply against AI for ethical reasons. I don’t agree that in the future people will expect AI to be part of coaching. I don’t actually think we can accurately predict the future here.
If you’d like, tell me a bit more about the ethical reasons you’re against AI? If it’s environment related, I recently wrote this article: https://georgekao.substack.com/p/ais-energy-use-what-soulpreneurs
Environment is part of it- I do like to be eco-conscious, but a bigger part is how the LLMs are being taught and what they are being trained to do. Claude was trained on 500,000 books that the authors did not give permission for. There was a big lawsuit and Anthropic settled for $1.5 billion. I find that deeply unethical and I'm surprised so many users would use AI without understanding how it is being trained, thereby almost being complicit.
Grok is/was being allowed to undress pictures of people to show them naked without these people's permission, a deep-fake porn. And this is the same AI being used in the US government. I find this all deeply disturbing.
Lastly, the executives for OpenAI were the largest donors to Donald Trump's campaign. If AI is in bed with the government, will we ever be able to create ethical laws around it?
Just like with smart phones, we barreled forward without considering the longer-term effects on our society. Now we are seeing how the use of smart phones have lead to anxiety, depression, suicidality, etc in people. We need ethical considerations BEFORE we move forward, and if we don't do that, I can't participate in the system.
As a life coach, I want MORE humanness, not less. I know there are positives to AI, but in my opinion the positives do not outweigh the negatives, so at least for now I choose to minimize the amount of AI I use/participate in. I've included some links because I know there are a lot of people spouting a lot of things about AI (and other topics). This is just a sampling.
Denita
https://www.npr.org/2025/09/05/nx-s1-5529404/anthropic-settlement-authors-copyright-ai
https://quitgpt.org/
https://counterhate.com/research/grok-floods-x-with-sexualized-images/
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/musks-doge-expanding-his-grok-ai-us-government-raising-conflict-concerns-2025-05-23/
Thank you, I feel the same way. As someone who values our innate intelligence over intellectual intelligence, I can't help but think that the problem is made clear in the label - "Artificial" intelligence, what an oxymoron!
Also the total lack of regulation is absolutely terrifying.