A way of thinking and working
As AI takes over more and more: how do we stay human and resilient?
For people who work with AI.
ITwo worlds
With AI
I use AI intensively. I build, experiment, follow ideas and see my possibilities expand. One answer leads to the next question, one result makes a new project conceivable. Things that used to take help or a lot of time are suddenly within reach.
That excites me.
In the body
In my training in movement-based bodywork I practise grounding, breathing, slowing down. I notice what is there right now: the floor under my feet, a movement, tension, my breath, contact with another person.
When I slow down, something else becomes accessible.
Living both at once is my starting point. I am interested in how the two come together – and what happens when the balance tips.
IIThe big question
We develop our sense of self partly through what we do. We learn something, overcome difficulties, are needed for our abilities and experience that our actions make a difference.
When AI writes, designs, analyses, plans and prepares decisions – often faster and sometimes better than we do – exactly these experiences change.
I am interested not only in what might be lost along the way, but in which practice preserves our humanity – and makes a new, resilient one possible.
IIIA second, a lifetime
The system delivers a result.
I understand and evaluate it.
I make the decision and stand by it.
What it does to me and to others.
Systems produce results in seconds that take us far longer to understand and evaluate. And what a decision does to people, to relationships, to trust within a team, unfolds over years.
The more we brief agents, check results and kick off new processes, the more these systems set the pace we live by. How do we keep room of our own in that?
IVThe pull
In people who use AI intensively I see curiosity and productive depth. And sometimes something driven. People disappear into a tunnel. The next answer, the next improvement, the next possibility keeps them hooked. What do we still notice about ourselves? Do we register tiredness, tension, the wish to move or to meet someone? Can we stop, even though so much more would be possible?
The tricky part: the pull feels meaningful. We learn, build, solve problems. That is exactly why it is worth asking when the work strengthens us and when it starts to set our rhythm.
Some of it looks almost addictive to me. This is a personal observation, not a diagnosis.
What research is beginning to show
MIT Media Lab and OpenAI · 4 weeks · 981 participants
People who voluntarily use a chatbot more intensively tend to score worse on loneliness, emotional dependence and problematic use. A correlation, not a proven cause. Study
UC Berkeley · 8 months · one company
With AI, employees took on more tasks, worked in parallel and pulled work into their breaks. Each step got easier, the day got denser. Research
Survey · students in China
Links between problematic AI use, sleep problems and psychological distress. There is no robust evidence yet on long-term physical effects. Study
What interests me most remains open: how do people experience this in their bodies? And what helps them stay self-determined and resilient?
VThe gap
One movement
AI is becoming faster, more versatile, more creative. What was a research project yesterday is built into the software we use every day.
The other movement
Our ability to process this grows more slowly. It depends on physical, emotional and social conditions. It comes from experience, not from an update.
In between
By Embodiment Gap I mean the tension between the growing possibilities of artificial intelligence and the physical, emotional and social conditions under which we humans can process and shape this change.
Research on embodied cognition and human–AI collaboration, and the long tradition of bodywork, offer a great deal here. What is missing is the connection – in a way that gives orientation for everyday life.
At the core
How do we preserve our humanity – and how do we develop it further?
Our resilience, our relationships, our capacity to perceive for ourselves. The sense of being able to shape our own lives. How we work with AI follows from that.
VIWhat follows
It grows from the interplay of personal abilities, sustaining relationships and working conditions that can be shaped. That is why it is also the responsibility of leadership and organisational development.
If you lead
What I want to develop
I want to test in practice how grounding, breathing, movement, reflection and encounter support people in working with AI. What helps us notice the pull, find our own rhythm again and decide consciously? And what do ways of working and organisations need to change for that?
This leads to conversations, essays and experiential formats for leaders and teams.
VIIMy perspective
Organisational development
For almost twenty years I have accompanied people and organisations through change: strategy, culture, identity, leadership, groups. New ways of working are closely tied to belonging, recognition and the feeling of making a difference.
Cultural studies
I am interested in how technologies shape our idea of performance, progress and human worth. What counts as good work? Which pace becomes normal? Which abilities drop out of sight?
AI practice
I know AI from intensive use and development of my own. I can engage with technical questions, explore possibilities and judge what they mean in practice.
Body and experience
Theatre, game thinking, embodied learning and my ongoing training in movement-based bodywork open up another way in: through movement, perception and relationship.
I can get excited about an agent system and at the same time feel what working with it is like. That is where I see my contribution: connecting these worlds and developing a practice from them, together with others.
How do we use what AI makes possible – and at the same time strengthen what gives us footing as humans?
This is the question I devote myself to with Embodiment Gap. If it is on your mind too, let’s talk.