What AI is doing to our brains

A friend recently spilled water on her new laptop—and for two days she had to hang tight, waiting for it to dry out. She resorted to using her 2018 laptop to complete her freelance marketing work. A laptop that didn’t have Claude and all her AI workflows installed. 

In the interim, her creative work took longer. But she noticed she felt more clear-headed—and happier. 

When I announced this newsletter back in August, commenting on AI was one of the posts I was most excited to write. 

While my friends who work for big technology companies have adopted AI as a core focus or a career differentiator, I’ve steered clear, mainly due to a felt sense.

My intuition told me not to. 

I'm not saying AI is "bad." I believe each of us has an intuitive sense that is for the self, only. It frustrates me when people say, oh yeah that person always gave me the ick … well, maybe it’s an ick for you and exactly the medicine someone else needs. 

So this post will not be an attack on AI in any way. 

I’ve been processing why I’ve stayed away, and it comes down to a desire to protect my creative process. 

The few times I have used AI, specifically Claude, is to help me with meal planning, shopping for a garden trellis, and summarizing my Gene Keys profile. 

My use is contained. 

What I believe about AI is that it has the potential to rewire our brains—specifically, to weaken them. It’s a threat to our biology, in a way that’s an extension of how social media has hijacked our dopamine response over the past two decades. 

In healing work, I help people rewrite their neural networks for safety and confidence, and it changes their entire lives. What AI is doing is the opposite. 

Collectively, this makes us a weak species, and the sci-fi author in me sees a clear path to humanity’s extinction, toppled by a single interruption to the supply chain. 

So, with a little bit of melodrama, let me offer you my take on AI.