Creativity in the Age of AI, Part 1: The Art of Not Outsourcing Our Humanity

There’s a curious paradox emerging in our relationship with artificial intelligence. While AI promises to free up our time by handling mundane tasks, many of us find ourselves doing something rather peculiar – we’re outsourcing the very things that make us human.

Picture this: You receive an email from a colleague. They’ve shared a story about their new puppy destroying their garden, and they’re asking if you can make an 11 AM meeting. The task is simple enough, but here’s where our modern habits kick in. You might be tempted to ask ChatGPT: “Reply to this email in my voice. Make a joke about their dog, confirm the meeting time, and end with something witty.”

And here’s the thing – it would do it brilliantly. The response would be perfectly crafted, probably funnier than what you’d write off the cuff, and delivered in flawless prose that mimics your style. But in this moment of delegating our human connection, something precious is lost.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. When we outsource our creativity, our human responses, our authentic connections to AI – even for the sake of efficiency – we’re not just saving time. We’re gradually disconnecting from the very essence of what makes life rich and meaningful.

The irony is that many of us are getting this backwards. We’re using AI to handle our creative work, our communications, our human connections, so we can free up time to… do what exactly? Fold laundry? Clean the house? We’re preserving our time for mundane tasks while delegating our humanity to algorithms.

But what if we flipped this script?

What if instead of asking AI to write our stories, compose our emails, or generate our ideas, we used it to handle the routine, the mechanical, the mundane? What if we preserved our creative energy for the things that truly matter – genuine human connection, authentic expression, real engagement with the world around us?

This isn’t about resisting technological progress. It’s about being intentional with how we use these powerful tools. Yes, AI can 10x our productivity. Yes, it can generate content faster than any human. But should we let it?

In my own life, I’ve made a conscious choice to protect and nurture my creative connection to the present moment. I’ve started writing more, not less. I’ve become more curious about the world around me, not less. When I receive an email from a friend, I take the time to craft a response that carries my genuine thoughts, my authentic voice, my real connection to their words.

Because here’s what I’ve realized: creativity isn’t just about producing content. It’s about maintaining our ability to see the world with fresh eyes, to form genuine connections, to engage authentically with the moments that make up our lives. It’s about preserving our capacity for wonder, for discovery, for genuine human interaction.

The real danger isn’t that AI will replace us. The real danger is that we might voluntarily relinquish the very things that make us irreplaceable – our creativity, our humanity, our authentic connection to the world and to each other.

So perhaps it’s time to ask ourselves: In this rush to embrace AI’s capabilities, what are we willing to delegate, and what must we preserve? Maybe the answer lies not in outsourcing our humanity to save time for mundane tasks, but in using these tools to free up more space for being authentically, creatively, wonderfully human.

After all, the goal isn’t to become more efficient at being less human. It’s to use these tools to become more fully ourselves.