Being Human in the Age of AI

It’s Friday. You’ve earned a deep breath.

After a week of parsing AI roadmaps, decoding vendor jargon, and triaging another half-dozen pilot proposals, let’s zoom out and ask a more human question:

What does work (and life) look like when AI does the working?

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When AI Does the Doing, What’s Left Is Being

A must-read essay from Psychology Today hit us square in the chest this week. The premise: AI can now paint, write code, crack jokes, run diagnostics, and even give surprisingly decent life advice. And with every new capability it takes on, it raises the question:

What’s actually left for us?

Here's the uncomfortable truth: maybe the work we thought made us valuable, the stuff we hustled for, got promotions for, built identities around, was never what made us human in the first place.

AI is becoming the “doing” machine. But it still can’t be the why machine.

The Part it Can’t Copy

Well, the good news is that AI can mimic the doing, but it cannot mirror the why.

• AI can automate the email. It can’t generate the reason you sent it.

• It can build the product roadmap. It can’t weigh the ethical tradeoffs of your launch.

• It can mimic expression. It can’t sit across the table and make someone feel truly seen.

That gap between doing and being is where the human edge lives.

The Enterprise Identity Crisis

We’re watching the cracks in real time.

Take Microsoft: reporting record-breaking profits while laying off entire teams in the same quarter. And they’re not alone. Across the board, we’re seeing companies squeeze out peak productivity, thanks to AI and automation, while trimming the very humans who built that growth.

Companies are rolling out return-to-office mandates while slashing teams with AI tools. It’s a strange split-screen moment where execs are loudly signaling just how confused we are about what human value even means.

It’s revealing an even deeper confusion: We’ve spent decades tying human worth to output. So when machines outperform us on the metrics we were told matter most, (speed, volume, scale) what’s left?

Because the companies that win won’t be the ones who squeeze their teams tighter.
They’ll be the ones who rehumanize them. Who create space for judgment, presence, care; everything the machines can’t do.

The Leadership Pivot

If AI is taking the doing, then we get to take back the being. And if we can get it right as leaders, that might be the greatest upgrade of all.

Here’s how to start shifting in that direction:

• Re-center pilots on outcomes, not outputs. Instead of asking “how fast can we do this,” ask “what does this free us up to focus on?”

• Treat change management like inner work. Your teams don’t just need technical training. They need help rediscovering purpose.

• Create margins. Seriously. Build intentional breathing room into your AI-augmented workflows. Reflection, experimentation, even a bit of rest to refresh.

Because in a world where machines do more of the work, the winning organizations will be the ones where the humans have more room to matter.

And if that’s the future, I’m in.

News Roundup

NASA is testing AI in orbit
To make Earth-observing satellites more autonomous, NASA is embedding AI directly into its satellite systems. These smarter sats will detect wildfires and floods faster, potentially changing how we respond to global disasters.
Read more →

AI job postings are declining
New data from Lightcast and Brookings shows AI-related job listings dropped by 40% year-over-year. Are we entering the “post-hype hiring hangover” or just recalibrating from the frenzy?
Read more →

Walmart’s AI moment: smarter shelves and savvier staff
The retail giant is going all-in on GenAI to streamline restocking, automate back-office tasks, and help workers assist customers faster. It’s a reminder: the future of frontline work isn’t robots—it’s augmented humans.
Read more →

TL;DR:

• When AI takes over the “doing,” leaders must reimagine the human “being.”

• NASA is embedding AI into satellites to make space systems more autonomous.

• AI job postings are dropping, signaling a market correction or maturity?

• Walmart is using AI to make its workforce more human-centric, not less.

• The real power of AI isn’t speed. It’s space for meaning, clarity, and growth.

We’ll be back Monday with more infrastructure insights, model news, and strategy frameworks. But for now, I hope you close your laptop, sip something cold, and let yourself be.

Stay sharp,

Cat Valverde
Founder, Enterprise AI Solutions
Navigating Tomorrow’s Tech Landscape Together