In a World of AI, Don’t Forget the Humans

Ah, the coming of winter. I’m in front of my computer this week, doing AI training for international audiences, building some Claude solutions for clients, and running one-on-one coaching check-ins for regular clients. Works, as it has been bucketing down, and home is where the soup and the fireplace are. Different from last week, when I did my quarterly Durban & Joburg whirlwind training and engagement tour.

I like the “me” time. But I liked last week too, because there is a strange irony to the age we live in. We have access to more information, more tools, more answers, and more artificial intelligence than ever before, yet some of the best insights of my week came not from a screen, but from simply being in the room with other human beings.

I started the week facilitating an execution day for the Entrepreneurs' Organization Johannesburg chapter. The day went really well, and one thing became very apparent very quickly. The AI-enhanced prompts we’ve brought into the curriculum are powerful. In fact, they are almost too compelling. The moment people start engaging with ChatGPT around KPIs, meeting rhythms, accountability systems, or gap analysis, they disappear into the machine. It reminded me of my two boys at home. Once they get talking to ChatGPT, they no longer want to talk to the humans in the room.

And yet that is precisely where the danger lies. AI is brilliant, but it is still an echo chamber. It knows your patterns. It learns your preferences. It reflects your language back to you. It is remarkably helpful, but it can also quietly reinforce your worldview if you are not careful. Real people do something very different. Real people challenge you. They interrupt your assumptions. They make you uncomfortable. They notice blind spots. They bring emotional nuance, context, tension, and perspective that no prompt engineering can fully replicate.

The answer is often still in the room, hey. 

The following day, I spent time with one of my private company clients on process work to build a clearer sales funnel. Working on the systems was useful, but honestly, it wasn't what stayed with me afterwards. What stayed with me was watching how the team interacted with one another. The mutual respect. The way they listened. The little moments of encouragement. The care people showed toward one another while solving problems together. You simply cannot digitise a genuine community. You can build platforms. You can build workflows. You can automate communication. But human trust is still handcrafted.

Then off to Durban, which I always enjoy. Those who know me well know I have a tendency to want to bring the entire orchestra into the room. Sometimes literally. I’ve become slightly obsessed with the soundtrack work of Hans Zimmer recently. There is this incredible rhythmic build in his scores that mirrors what happens in great businesses. Consistency. Layering. Momentum. Tension. Crescendo. I wanted to bring some of that energy into the learning experience. So I experimented a little with infotainment in the workshop.

Thankfully, it landed well. But I also had to check myself. Because one of my leadership lessons this year has been to understand that less is often more. Particularly when you are teaching concepts in big rooms. Visionaries love adding things. Great facilitators know when to leave space. Sometimes the most powerful learning moment is not the extra slide, the extra framework, or the extra story. Sometimes it is simply clarity repeated consistently.

A quick podcast recording in Hillcrest, some golf in the Midlands with old client and friend Jon, and then off home for Saturday morning football and rugby, a wedding anniversary celebration, Mother’s Day brunch and dinner with the neighbours. It’s a lot, and god bless my wife, who went on the crazy weekend social ride with me.

Neighbours. Good friends who live next door, and we haven’t seen them in months.  Not because of conflict. Not because of distance. Just because life gets busy. They are building their dream escape up in De Doorns, and we are in the deep end of kids, work and life in general.

We speak endlessly today about leverage, optimisation, automation, AI workflows, productivity systems, and scaling. All useful things. All important things. But somewhere in all of this, we must not forget that effort itself is a form of human technology. Relationships require intentionality. Friendship requires scheduling. Community requires inconvenience. Presence requires effort.

And effort, more often than not, gets rewarded.

Stephen Covey wrote extensively in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People about seeking first to understand before being understood. Keith Ferrazzi built an entire philosophy around relationships in Never Eat Alone. Even the best teams in sport understand this principle instinctively. The magic is rarely just in the tactics. It is in the connection between people. The trust in the changeroom. The conversations after training. The culture that develops when people spend real time together.

Technology should absolutely enhance our lives. I use it every single day. I teach it. I advocate for it. I genuinely believe AI will transform business productivity in extraordinary ways. And yet… the better answer is still often in the room. 

PG’s Pro Tip:

1. Before asking ChatGPT for an answer to a business problem, ask three humans you trust first. Compare the patterns. 

2. Schedule one meaningful catch-up this week with someone you genuinely care about but have neglected because “life got busy.” 

3. In your next meeting, focus less on presenting and more on observing. Watch how people interact. Culture always reveals itself in the room. 

Because in the end, while AI may accelerate insight, it is still humans who create meaning.

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