AI, ChatGPT & The Future: Staying Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence isn't coming.

It's already here.

You might be using ChatGPT at work, asking AI to plan your next vacation, edit your emails, or organize your life, but one thing is becoming clear: this technology isn't going anywhere.

But as AI becomes part of our everyday lives, another question begins to emerge.

How do we embrace innovation without losing what makes us human?

In this episode, Laura and Amanda explore one of the biggest transitions of our generation: learning to live alongside artificial intelligence while staying connected to creativity, intuition, relationships, and the experiences that technology can never replace.

Together, they discuss:

• How AI has already changed their daily lives
• Whether AI is making us smarter or simply more dependent
• The opportunities and fears surrounding artificial intelligence
• Why more people are craving real human connection than ever before
• What AI should never replace
• How to use technology as a tool instead of letting it define us
• Finding balance between innovation and humanity

This isn't a conversation about whether AI is good or bad.

It's about learning how to navigate a world that's changing faster than ever while staying true to who we are.

Because every generation has its defining transition.

Maybe this is ours.

New episodes every Thursday.

Podcast on AI: HOT SMART RICH: Morgan Riddle

Wait... What's Next? 

Host: Laura Alba 
Co-Host: Amanda Brilhante
Executive Producer: Lauren Atkinson

Instagram: @waitwhatsnextpod, @lauraalbaz & @amandakbril

Email:  waitwhatsnextpod@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I'm wearing the Colombian jersey. In case people live under a rock or don't follow soccer, we are in the middle of a World Cup.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

What we're talking about today is artificial intelligence or AI, keep up with the pace of change.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

How do we come back from now everything being so online, so digital, and utilizing all these tools and stay grounded in our humanity? What happens when technology advances faster than humans can emotionally keep up? I think this one wasn't long overdue. Podcast where we talk about the transitions and what the things that happen around us, how those affect us. And for me, I think there's two transitions that we need to cover. One is how are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

I literally just I'm good. I just took a shower. I like have been gone all day. Are you ready for your trip?

SPEAKER_00 1:01

I am so excited for my trip.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

I'm also so excited to not work for a whole week.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Yeah, that sounds nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Yeah, I just want to relax, and I am gonna use that week to do a lot of research and a lot of networking and try to find a job. So one of a few of our friends, they're going to France in a couple of weeks. And I had to prioritize this this trip because I have to see him, and then also we had a wedding, so I'm like, I might as well just go there. And Hawaii is expensive, so but I am having the worst FOMO of not going to France. And I told them best case scenario, I get a job this week that I'm off, and so then I can just tell my company, like, okay, I'm out, I'm going to France. So let's hope for that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

How long are they gonna be there?

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Will and Bret, they're going for two weeks because I believe they're doing something before that. They're gonna go somewhere else. I think they're going to somewhere in the north of France, and then they're going down, and then the second week they're gonna be in south of France. They're going to this event in Saint-Tropez, and then coming back from that event after the weekend, and then spending the rest of the week in south of France in Evila, and then coming back. Wow, how nice. I know, dude. I really wanted to go, and that is tough.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

All my vacations are in November, so I am just working. Bahamas in Vietnam.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Oh my god, you're going to Vietnam with your boyfriend?

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yeah, and it's my friend's wedding. So we're gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

And you've never been. Oh my god, how exciting!

SPEAKER_01 2:47

And yeah, no, say I honestly I would love to be living my best life though on a Euro summer with the spritz in my hand. That sounds great.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

My brother just came back from three weeks and he texted me. He goes, dude, the depression of coming back to Colombia after three weeks, it's it's rough. He was like, I'm really struggling. I'm like, I can imagine that sounds like the good life.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

How do people get two weeks, three weeks off in a row?

SPEAKER_00 3:17

I think my brother he had a ton and he still has vacation that he's never taken. So I think he has three more weeks, but I think they accrue for us. So I have unlimited, which is like what's unlimited? Like, when can I tap out? Because my previous company, I had unlimited and I never used my vacation because I couldn't leave the country. When I was able to leave the country, went to Colombia, went to Puerto Rico, and went to Spain by mid-year in 2024. They sat me down and they were like, Okay, we need to stop. This is a lot. And I was like, I thought we have a limited. And I took I think stop was like three weeks max. But that is to tell that there's no such thing as a limited PTO.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

And I get it. I mean, we're not gonna take six weeks, six months, but I just feel like three weeks is really nothing, or two weeks or whatever, however much we will take.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

I think there should be a solid like four or five weeks.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

I feel like okay, no, Amanda. This is why we need to get a remote job or build up a business so we can just be like, okay, we'll just spend the next month expensed by the job that we work on, and we can go to France. That's the goal. Yeah, we wonder all bosses. I know there's other things that we need to go offline. Let's dive right into it because in case people live under a rock or don't follow soccer, we are in the middle of a world cup in Columbia's plane today, hence why we're supporting. But I'm so excited, and so yeah, I really love this time of the year or this time, this time, every four years.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Yeah. I'm so bad with soccer or football, but yeah, let's let's dive into it. Since we are talking about work anyways, and what we're talking about today is artificial intelligence or AI. So something that personally I believe you should probably get on the bandwagon with if you're not. So yes, we'll jump into that.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

I think this one was a long overdue, just because I mean, we've been hinting about Chat GPT and our best friend and all of that. I actually was listening to a podcast today of this woman who she's a CEO for a company that enhances all their companies with the use of the tools of AI. And so she has all of the back and forth, what to do, how to build that business from scratch utilizing the AI. And this is not a podcast for technology because people don't come here for technical stuff. I think if you really want to learn about AI, we're gonna link that episode. But this is an podcast where we talk about the transitions and what the things that happen around us, how those affect us. And for me, I think there's two transitions that we need to cover. One is three to four years ago in 2022 when ChatGPT was introduced. I remember the only reason why I was early on the game is because I had a friend who worked for Microsoft and he was telling me that they were about to release this tool and to be ready. And at the time, the concept of Chat GPT and literally typing something and having this machine respond back to you was just so foreign. The only place where I've seen then is in Harry Potter when he's writing on this notebook, and then the book disappears when he writes. And then have you seen? I don't know, are you Harry Potter?

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Yeah, I love Harry Potter. I've seen uh it's probably my most watched movie.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Oh my god, I love Harry Potter. I actually seen that that scene recently where he's like, Do you know anything about the secret chambers or whatever? And then the in the book, and then the book disappears, and then he starts writing back to him, and I'm like, Oh, this is Chad Juity. Yeah, I remember the moment when I wrote my first prop. I don't even remember what I meant what I wrote, but when it just responds back to you, I think it was cool, but there was a moment of alert in my brain because to have a machine that has the autonomy to be able to do that was kind of scary. And I immediately messaged my manager and she can attest to this. I said, Victoria, we need to build up a presentation about AI because this is about to just disrupt everything. I mean, I am using it right now, this is crazy. And then she was like, Oh my god, I haven't heard of it, blah, blah, blah. And then literally a month later, the leadership team came up with, we need to start talking about AI. And I cannot remember a time before that. Right now it's part of all of my operational and administrative work. Things that I do at work, I use it at home, but it's such a big part of my life that the transition was very quick. The other transition that we need to cover is how do we come back from now everything being so online, so digital, and utilizing all these tools and stay grounded in our humanity, but still making sure that we are offline, that we are prioritizing in-person interactions because at the end of the day, technology can run forever, but humans do need that connectivity and that real life experience that we grew up with. So I think these are two different transitions that we can talk about today. I like this thing that came out when I was kind of building up the episode, and it's it's not human to AI, but human with AI. How do we start living a life where we can incorporate AI, but it's in a balanced way?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

All my job is is talking about AI. So this is pretty on-brand with me. And the human in the loop comes up in every single conference that I'm at and almost all conversations. So humans using AI and it being a tool is definitely, I think, what the focus is. But that being said, like it is being used to replace certain aspects of job descriptions, and it's used as a productivity tool, it's figuring out how to operationalize things better. And and I always I know people to this day who refuse to use AI, and it blows my mind because the reality is like every kind unless you're in a specific career that you know technology is not going to be a part of ever, then you're safe. But besides that, if you're in the corporate world, you most likely will need to figure out how to use these tools. And if you don't, it does become a matter of your job or not. And some corporations will talk about upskilling their employees, but there's still that barrier. And if you're somebody who's unwilling to learn, you're just setting yourself behind. I also cannot imagine not having AI. When I started this current job, I was still barely used it. And as somebody who worked in journalism, I've always written everything myself. So when I started my current job, a lot of what I do is writing content and turning setup documents into usable material. And I was doing most of that myself.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Now, yeah, now I am all like Chat GPT. And that's my preferred tool. I do like Claude, but I Chat GPT just has more of my memory because that's where I started. So it understands how I write a little bit better. But cannot imagine doing my job now without it. I am so much quicker.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Yeah. I think that you bring up a really good point, and it's the people that still refuses to use it. And that's why I want to define who this episode, who this episode is for. And I think this episode really falls into that category. The people that feel afraid, and that's where we want to talk about it. And also the people that might be using it too much, and it's also feeling disconnected. And it's also feeling like I don't have a sense of community. I think there's three categories. There's the millennials, and I think the millennials, because we lived in a world where we didn't use AI, where we did the write-ups, we did all of the creatives, like it was sat down and write every single word. And then seeing AI, I think our generation is very engraved into we need to use it because if we don't adopt it, at some point, and I really don't know which industry or which job will be without AI. It doesn't matter if it if the business at its core level doesn't mean it's AI, but at the very minimum, all the operational and administrative work that will be replaced by AI. And if a company, no matter what type of company or what industry doesn't jump on that trade, they are already having a disadvantage. And somebody else who's doing that job is gonna take that market share for that company. And so that is one thing. And I think us as millennials, I think we were even forced, and people that don't use it, they are gonna be forced to jump on it and learn about it. Because that's what the girl was saying today. She said she literally had a company where she had a ton of specialists. And when AI came, she said everyone got scared. And they thought that they were gonna lose their job. And she came out and as a CEO said, nobody's gonna lose their job, train yourself using AI, incorporate it in your day-to-day, and you'll be safe. And then there were the people who adopted it, they're doing great, and now they sort of shifted their role by maybe become more creative, more strategic approach, but now they're utilizing AI. And they may be created a different type of role. And then there's the people that said no, and she let them go. And I thought it was Santa Sabbath. She was like, Yeah, I let I told them you don't have to stay, but if you're not gonna utilize the tools, we're gonna let you go. And it just got me thinking how there is this whole fear of we're all gonna lose our jobs, AI just gonna come and take everything. But I like to be an optimistic and think that every leap in technology that our world had, or whether it was in the industrial revolution or the boom.com and now with AI, it's not that people lost their jobs. There was a transition, but then it just creates a reality and roles that we don't even know are gonna exist. And I think that's where we're gonna go. I think the transition is what's painful because of course there are a lot of jobs that are being eliminated. But because people have so much free time in the operational administrative part, I think there is just gonna be opportunity for us to jump on maybe different types of things that are more important that they're probably gonna help the company at a greater level. So I think I like to be an optimistic and think that that's where we're going. But at the end of the day, nobody knows. I mean, there's literally debates about this every day, and nobody can get on the same page. The millennials, we we needed to adopt it. And then there's the Gen C's, right? The Gen C's grew up with it. I think there was a small gap in which they probably were able to experience getting into the corporate job without using AI, but definitely used it. And then there is the baby boomers who are either either long AN over their career and whoever is setting, either they are managing a tip of people that are utilizing AI for them, but they don't necessarily are utilizing AI. But I think because they are most likely going to retire within the next few years, I don't think that they necessarily will be utilizing the tools as much as we do. I don't know. I thought it was interesting to kind of like divide those audiences because this episode is definitely for the millennials that are going through it, that maybe are shifting roles in some type of way and form, but that are definitely being pushed somehow to utilize these tools. I feel like I wanted to define the people that would be interested in this episode, just because I do think it's a very complex conversation that we still don't know the right or run, and maybe we never will until that alternative reality starts to appear or in marriage with AI taking over, basically.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Yeah, well, our friends who have had kids recently in the last three years or so, their kids are growing up in a world with AI. It's completely different than how we grew up. Our parents, even my younger brother who crossed over into the generation that used AI in college. I just think it's gonna change everything. I have a love-hate relationship with AI. I do think that it kind of makes us dumber because you're not actively using different parts of our brain. And like that part kind of bothers me. I do notice that like I don't know. I I could sit down and write what I used to write, but I haven't. And I don't know what I would do if you told me, okay, do it without it. There'd definitely be a moment where I'm like, whoa. But on top of that, I think it'll change school systems, it's going to change careers to your point. Job descriptions have already changed. Things move so fast. The number one conversation I have outside of how do we implement AI is how do we keep up with the pace of change? Because every single organization is trying to use all the tools. And then there it's almost like the tools come out quicker, then we can figure out how to use them. So we're constantly trying to figure out what's the next tool and then training your staff and upskilling, and it's just the whole thing. But then the other side of it that I don't also love outside of the fact that I think it does kind of make certain components not like our creativity. I know that we've kind of mentioned this. I think that it can damage the creative parts of your brain. I think that there's just other things. But then there's the environmental impact that AI has and the data centers and the cost. And now tokenomics is becoming a thing. So because of the industry that I work in, I'm so saturated with these conversations. And two years ago, I remember having a conversation about how the pendulum with AI has swung so far to the extreme. And it kind of feels like there's going to be some sort of like AI busts, AI boom, but it has to swing back eventually. And right now, I'm wondering if the shift in conversations of tokenomics and organizations seeing how this can be not cost efficient is the start of it moving back. And you're seeing a lot of organizations who have released employees because they've implemented tech, kind of bring people back in, and there's different scenarios. But at the core, it I think it is still here to say it's not going anywhere. No, and it's been here for a long time. Like AI is not a new concept, it is just newly incorporated into our everyday lives. It became accessible for the general population, and there's other components of it being accessible and security issues and yada yada, not to get super, super tech, but it's been here, it's really, really here now, and it's probably going to shape what things generations look like. Yeah, it's not.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

I love that sentence that you said about us adapting to it and moving so fast. And that's the question that I wanted people to have this whole time. What happens when technology advances faster than humans can emotionally keep up? And to your point, we are now I we thought we were saturated with information before, just with social media and having access to the internet. I think right now that is the bar that us as humans need to start building up a muscle where we utilize AI for an advantage, but then we can also say, this is as far as I go. This is when I need to disconnect and build and not out of my part of my lives that are so important. To your point on creativity and all of those things, I even push myself in my day-to-day when I am having to write the social media assets and social media write-ups for my job and even for this podcast. I am challenging myself to actually just do not even a write-up, but a word bummit of what I think I want these captions to talk about and to still have my voice and tone or the tone of my company to make sure that we are differentiating ourselves from everyone else. Because I think to your point about the pendulum, the pendulum coming back is that companies are letting people go, but the creative part, it's never gonna be able to be automated because an AI tool is never gonna be human and it's never gonna have that human feel and tone that we have. And I don't know if you haven't noticed, but I go online and I see people's social media or company social media, and I can immediately tell that they use AI to write all those captions. And I think the people that continue working on the skills of writing and that creative side, I think companies are gonna have to step back at some point and say, Okay, I literally sound the company next door. Everyone sounds the same. The captions are from whatever to whatever, and then name three objects. Like it literally sounds all the sentences structures, it's Sounds literally the same when people when I listen to introductions and podcasts. I remember before I'll be, oh, this is so exciting. Like they're gonna talk about this. Now my mind goes, Oh, this person totally used AI to write an intro. Because it just sounds so genetic and so the same. And I think the pendulum is gonna be bad when people start realizing that those types of skills are gonna be needed more than ever because now everyone is gonna start sounding the same. So that is just on the like I think creative side, but also kind of just jumping out of the career in our day-to-day. I think with AI being so prominent in the internet just blooming even more. I think people are actually also starting to realize that they need to be more offline. And I don't know if you have heard those conversations, but they're more like, okay, I need to like get out, I need to have more community, I want to be outside, I want to start building up relationships more. Authenticity. I feel authenticity is gonna be so important because again, everything is starting to sound the same. Just presence. And I think those things are what are gonna keep us grounded and in touch with our humanity. Because it's kind of crazy, but I think the more we spend time with these tools, the more we start shaping our thought process and what we do based on all of these tools that we use every day. So it's very interesting, but I do think that being present, the community, and just putting a limit on how much you spend time online and being in real life is gonna be an important pivotal thing that we do to be able to stay grounded.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

I think in general, we are a pretty online culture. It's kind of like when you're in the airport and you look around and everyone's on their phone. Or like if you've ever taken yourself out to lunch or dinner or whatever it is, and it's just you and nobody else, what do most people do? They sit on their phones the entire time. So I think there's also I would challenge anyone to sit there and be bored, just be off your phone for a second, even if yeah, even if you have to sit there and watch a blade of grass grow, like whatever it is, but something to unplug because we are such a tech heavy society right now. And that's not even just a product of AI, that's just simply a product of everything on social media, yeah, text messaging, just all of it. It's constant.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

It's funny. I had a dream, I think a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was such an interesting dream, and I don't know why I had it, but I think it's relevant. In the dream, I remember I felt like I called it the government. The government was trying to trap us and to put us in this little house where they were gonna put us underwater and basically take our autonomy of humans, and we were just gonna be a virtual reality thing. And I kept saying, Oh my god, no, I can't be trapped in the virtual world, like I need to live in real life. And I remember I was running away from it. And then I don't know if it was in the transition of waking up that I was having this thought. But I started thinking, what if they decide that they're able to actually download our consciousness into a USB, whatever, or or there's a Netflix?

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Maybe it's not Netflix. Oh yeah, I've seen it. It's called upload, and maybe it's on prime video, but basically it's that your consciousness was uploaded if you like pass away.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Okay, but PS though, I've never seen this, I never watched this. I don't, and so I had that dream, and and in the dream, or like I said, maybe it was a thought that I was having when I was waking up, I couldn't tell. I kept thinking, no, don't do that because that's not me anymore. My my body's gonna die, and then I'm just gonna be trapped into this virtual world, like this. And I could say, like, disconnect me or something. It was super trippy, it was super trippy, but then I woke up and I kept thinking every time we choose to put out our phone and to focus our sight on that little tiny device, and we do it for hours, we are trapped in that little world. And I feel like that was the conclusion of my dream, and honestly, it was kind of scary to think because it's I don't know if you get the recaps from your phone that says, You spend five hours on your phone. I'm like, Oh my god, that is I was probably awake for what 13-14 hours, and almost half of that time I was literally staring at a small device. When you put that into perspective, it's kind of scary.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

It is. Well, it's like I have a girlfriend who spends all of her waking hours online, so her screen time is insane.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

Is she how is she doing mentally?

SPEAKER_01 27:06

I think she's good, but really, yeah. Well, it's part of her job to do that, so it kind of makes sense, but I mean, I do think that it's always healthy to unplug. Like you have part of yeah, it's a double-edged sword when I hear these organizations talk about how productivity has changed because of these tools, and then it's like, well, what do you do with that extra time? And a lot of organizations find that their employees try to fill that extra time with like more work and being productive because the last thing you want to do is be having a way status on Teams for 20 minutes because you finished your project early, because you used the tools that they provided, like it's crazy. But I know I always try to like go for a walk or something. If I finish everything, I you know there's a reason why I'm extra productive and I try to build that back in. Granted, I work East Coast hours, so 2 p.m. I'm off of work anyways.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Oh yeah, that's the perfect schedule. To me, I will wake up at five, and if I can finish by two, I still have the whole day. I can just enjoy it and it feels all of that. But Amanda, I swear we didn't prep, we we didn't with it's not like we rehearse these episodes, like they're they're very honest and genuine. But you're touching on every little section that I wanted to touch. And I wanted to tie this episode a little bit back to what we talked on our last episode, which was defining your rich life. And now defining your rich life meets AI because now that to your point, we get that extra time. We're not spending that much time writing down, doing creatives, like actually writing down documents from scratch. What are we choosing to do with that free time? And I think when, and I don't remember back when the pandemic happened, of course, constant complaints is that they don't have enough time for anything. If they had time, they would work out of it. If they had time, they would sleep more, if they had time, they would travel, whatever it is. But I remember there was a huge I mean, besides the pandemic being crazy and a lot of tragedy happened. But people were feeling depressed and having mental health because they didn't know what to do with the time because nobody could leave and they had the opportunity to work from home. And that was huge. Almost life told us, okay, well, you complain about not having time. He's all the time in the world. What are you gonna do with that? And people didn't know what to do with it. And so I think we don't know the answer. And you answer what you said is I prioritize going for a walk. For me, the moment I live, I don't even bring my work computer at home. I used to bring it, and I was like, no, I am living and I'm going home. And I'm not even gonna think about this, like not check emails or anything. And I think that's what I was talking about before. Being rational and being self-aware of when it's time to log off and to prioritize being in person and going for that walk, hanging out with the people that you love. Yes, we can always be doing more, we can always be working, you can always be prepping for the next day, so you have to do less. But it's that sense of optimization that we kind of covered before that it's endless. There's not a top. And if you wanted to optimize and keep optimizing, you can do that forever and never hit a ceiling. But the truth is time is passing by, and we always talk about this in this podcast. It is now that you get to live and live your best life, and you have to make sure it's happening and make that decision because we have all these tools that keep pulling us back from that, and I think that's so important to bring up.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Yeah, I wish that organizations understood that more. Like, I understand that a lot of people feel like their hands are tied when it comes to the corporate world, and there's definitely some truth to that because you know, companies want to make money, so they're gonna do it somehow, which I totally understand. People who are feeling the tension of wanting to be able to give back time to themselves and really feeling they can at the same time. So then it's a matter of what do you do. And it's funny how we complain about having too much time during COVID, and then you get into a position where, well, I personally know that I am a victim of trying to fill my free time. And I think we've talked about this before in an earlier episode, kind of forcing myself to take breaks and to not constantly feel I need to be busy and doing something. And I've definitely learned the art of enjoying being home alone and taking a night off of anything. But that took practice. I was definitely somebody who was used to filling my time with something.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Yep. We are inviting people and putting this in light of what is going on because I think you said something very interesting. We need to teach ourselves how to step back. Before we had to teach ourselves how to be disciplined, how to show up to work, how to be on time, how to check your emails, all of that. We've been training every single day for the past however many years has been on our career, but no one taught us how to step back, how to be able to slow down, how to be able to go home and decompress, how to do all those things that are so important. And even what I was saying last week that sometimes when you're super busy and you finally have some time for yourself, I am like feeling off and don't know what to do, and just kind of start me coming up with problems because I'm like, oh my god, I have free time, I don't know what to do with myself. And then you pass that threshold, and then you you said you get bored, you kind of just sit there and stare. Literally, like I think that's so important to just be in a moment. And once you pass that threshold, you start feeling your nervous system settling down, getting balanced, coming back to yourself, you know, getting in touch with your breath, being in the moment, start to realize all the things that are happening around you that are so important, so simple, but it's so important. Even just watching the sun or dirt around you. It's so beautiful, the world that we get to live. But we take those things for granted, not because we want to, but because we are so distracted with what everything else. So I think that is a good way for us to wrap up this episode, and it's by inviting people to disconnect, to train yourself to the opposite habits of yeah, you put in the time, you work hard, but it's time to disconnect, go home, and relax, and enjoy being present with your family, with your friends, with your dog and being alone. Honestly, being alone is so fun. And again, if you're not able to be alone, I think that's a different conversation because you need to find peace within yourself to even then being able to give back to other people or back to a company or a hobby or whatever you want to do. I think it's so important to first check with yourself and make sure that you're okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

Yeah, I sit once you're shiling. So at the same time, though, to bring it all back, you do have to kind of keep up with technology, unfortunately. And it's not AI isn't supposed to be scary, it's just a part of where we're at now in life, and there's ways to use it that can be really helpful. You just have to figure out how to use it comfortably and how to kind of not get left behind. Also, this is so random, but I was thinking while you were talking, one of the things I do pretty often is I go for walks with my dog with no headphones. I don't even take my phone out, I just go on like a silent little walk, and I find that that's like a pretty good time for me. I don't even know what I think about, probably nothing. Like, what am I actively thinking about? I don't know. But Laura, I'll let you take us to the end here and plug it in.

SPEAKER_00 35:11

Yeah, no, you're so right. I do that all the time though. I walked out and sometimes I'm listening to a podcast, but like I said, I think being in nature is very important because nature is very tied to our roots, and it's just it just can't bring you back to the presence, the present moment. And I think that sometimes music, I love music. I love a good podcast, I love talking to people on the phone. But I think those are again distractions from keeping you to be with yourself and your thoughts. And sometimes a moment of silence, people say, Hey, take 10 minutes to just be quiet, disconnect, don't have anything on your hands, just literally sit breathe. That can go a long way when you're feeling off and when you're feeling like life and AI is chasing you. So, just a little recap to this episode, we talk about two different transitions going from no AI, no chat GPT, no cloud, no all of the um AI tools into utilizing them and feeling like you leap with technology and that it just took over your life and became part of how you do everything or or the majority of things, at least for work. But also the transition of stepping back and connecting back to your humanity and the real life offline. So I hope that people don't feel alone. It is I think the uncertainty is very interesting and it can be scary, but I also like to be an optimist and I like to think that we are somehow going to adapt and that people are gonna be able to find jobs in different roles eventually as we evolve. There is a transition time, and I think it can be kind of painful and stressful. And I still see those people on LinkedIn who love their jobs, but I also see a lot of companies posting and people recruiting. And so I do think that enhancing your skills and being able to function utilizing AI, it's gonna be huge. And while you might not feel comfortable, it's gonna be pivotal for you to get that next role or grow in a company. So you might not want to jump on that train yet, but having those conversations, doing the research, talking to people, and just kind of deep in your toes into, I think it's gonna go a long way. Sometimes the reality of the situation is you kind of have to see where the world is going and you don't fully have to accept it and jump on that train, but I still at least be open-minded. And I think that is gonna make it easier for everyone. But enough of a rant. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thursday and enjoying the World Cup for those of you who follow. We are full swing summer, and I don't know if you guys are feeling the vibes. I'm definitely feeling them. I'm loving the long days. See, like I come home from work and I still have such a long day to live. And I love that.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Um it's so nice, it's so nice.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

I love it. And just, you know, prioritize your habits that make you happy, take moments alone, look at home, make meals that you enjoy, talk to people that can make you smile and feel good in a moment. And we'll be back next week. You can find us on Wait What's Next podcast. Let us know how you feel, let us know what you think about AI. Definitely a conversation that we want to continue having. And if you know somebody who might be struggling or who's feeling on that transition that in between with technology, share this podcast with them. This could be a little bit of light, a little bit of fun moment where we're not making it super serious and we can also show that we're all going through it. So share the pod, find us on Instagram, find us on TikTok, find us on YouTube, and all of the streamers. Wherever you find your podcast, leave us comments, and we'll talk to you guys next.

SPEAKER_01 39:18

See you next week.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

Bye.