September 3, 2026

Are We Outsourcing Who We Are?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about technology, and specifically about AI. Not because I think it’s bad. Quite the opposite. I use it regularly, and in some areas of my work it has completely changed what’s possible. Research that once required several people and countless hours can now be done faster, deeper and with access to more information than we could have imagined a few years ago.

But there’s another side to this that I think is worth paying attention to.

At what point does a tool that helps us think begin thinking for us?

I noticed this first with writing. I know some very talented writers, people whose work I’ve respected for years, and lately I can immediately see when they’ve handed too much of the job over to AI. The words are polished. The structure is good. Technically, there’s nothing wrong with it. But something is missing.

Them.

That got me thinking about the bigger question. AI is only one piece of this. Every day algorithms are deciding what shows up in our feeds based on what we’ve searched, watched, liked or lingered over. Social media shows us what success is supposed to look like. Technology learns what keeps our attention and then gives us more of it.

If we aren’t conscious of that influence, how much of what we eventually believe is actually ours?

Five things I think are worth considering:

1. Use technology as a tool, not as your identity.
   AI can help you research, organize, explore and create. But there’s a difference between asking it to help express your thinking and asking it to do your thinking.
2. Pay attention to what you’re consuming.
   Algorithms are designed to give you more of what engages you. That can create an incredibly narrow version of the world without you realizing it.
3. Protect your own voice.
   When everyone has access to tools that can produce polished content, sounding polished isn’t going to differentiate you. Your experience, perspective and humanity will.
4. Create space without a screen.
   Walk. Read an actual book. Sit outside. Think. Spend enough time away from the constant stream of information that you can hear your own thoughts again.
5. Keep asking, “Is this actually me?”
   Does what you’re saying, sharing, pursuing and believing represent who you are and what you value? Or have you slowly adopted someone else’s definition of what matters?

None of this requires us to reject technology. That would be pointless, and frankly, I don’t want to. AI is going to change industries and professions, just as the internet did before it. There will be extraordinary opportunities created because of it.

The opportunity for us as individuals is to embrace those tools without outsourcing ourselves in the process.

Maybe one of the most important skills in the years ahead won’t be learning how to use AI. Maybe it will be knowing ourselves well enough to recognize when technology is helping us become more capable, and when it is quietly becoming our voice.

Every once in a while, get out of the feed, put down the phone and ask yourself a simple question:

Is this truly who I am, or am I being directed?