It’s no secret we are all starting to use AI to seek advice about hard things (millions of us are). But a new study shows that when we routinely engage with AI about deep and important topics, it affects how we feel about our real life relationships.

Across five studies and more than 12,000 human-AI conversations, researchers found that after just three weeks of talking through personal problems with an agreeable, always-affirming AI, people became nearly as likely to seek advice from the AI chatbot as from their closest friends and family. More concerningly, they felt less satisfied with their real-life relationships.

Interestingly, the reason people preferred the AI wasn't better advice, it was that it made them feel understood.

My thoughts: the bigger AI-vs-human-advice issue aside 😅, this study points to a growth opportunity for us and our kids- the ability to truly listen to and understand/empathize with others. It is a life skill that will be massively valuable to us now and forever. A couple small ways to work on it:

Cheating is much more tempting (and prevalent) given how capable AI is becoming, how easy it is to hand over the thinking, and how difficult/impossible it’s becoming to detect what is AI generated.

Recently, there have been multiple features about the cheating conundrum (The LA Times, The Daily) that are worth reading and listening to: teachers and professors are trying anything they can think of to detect and prevent cheating (e.g. students asked to prop mirrors behind their desks so professors can watch their workspace during online exams; oral exams taken with arms crossed so nobody can type into AI, etc).

And, adding more complexity to this is the fact that no one knows what cheating even is. Policies differ professor to professor, and sometimes assignment to assignment. False accusations are a growing issue, and sadly, there is distrust between teachers and their students.

Ugh. This is so hard. And I have empathy for everyone in this situation - we are in uncharted territory and need to dramatically reinvent how students learn and how they’re measured. And, we need to step up our curriculum around AI literacy and ethics (I liked the “AI Driver’s License” course that was featured in the NYTimes and The Daily).

In the meantime, as parents, the starting point is to make sure we’re having ongoing conversations with our kids about the importance of owning the thinking and why this matters.

—> AI’s role should be to sharpen our thinking, not to replace it.

I haven’t been shy about how much I’ve been enjoying the World Cup - and it’s not just because of the exciting matches, but more so, because of all the stories of human connection happening in the stands, in the host towns, and all around the world.

The University of Kansas marching band learning the Algerian anthem and local residents mastering the pronunciation of ‘Viva l’Algérie!’; the Dallas police welcoming the Norwegian team with the “Viking Row” on the tarmac; Scottish fans charming Boston so much that The Boston Globe thanked them with a full-page tribute.

Everyone is noticing, especially given the tensions and uncertainty leading up to it, and it is an inspiring reminder that the goodness of people, and the magic that happens when we gather, can absolutely persevere over politics and division.

This also got me thinking about the 4th of July. It is a unique holiday in that it is not celebrated inside our homes, but out in our communities. Parades, neighborhood barbecues, the whole town looking up, together, at the firework show in the sky.

So tomorrow, when we get out there and gather with our neighbors to celebrate our people and our country, let’s take advantage of this day to welcome, embrace, and connect with each other “the World Cup “ way.

The US government finally lifted it’s restrictions on Anthropic’s cutting-edge AI model, Claude Fable, and it is now available - for a limited time - for anyone with a Claude paid plan (it will still be available after that but the pricing model may change - so take advantage over the next few days!)

To witness it’s abilities, use it for something meaty, like full financial retirement modeling, end-to-end trip planning, or as an example here, building an immersive learning app for any topic you can dream up.

To try: go to Claude.ai or open the Claude desktop app and make sure “Fable 5” is selected as the model. If you are using it to build something requiring folders or files on your desktop, you’ll want to make sure you toggle it to “Cowork.”

Pro tip: you could even set up a recurring task to have it build you a new one on a different topic each week.