AI doesn't know purpose

"AI doesn't know purpose," Cassie, Google's first Chief Decision Scientist, wrote in her viral post. It left me feeling uneasy, because truthfully, many humans don't know their purpose either.

In her post, if you replaced "AI" with a person's name, it might still ring true: unsure of what they want, uncertain about the future, distracted by digital shadows, lacking clarity, commitment, or self-awareness.

As AI's influence grows, who will be manipulating whom?

Throughout my coaching journey, I've been captivated by the possibility of leveraging AI to democratize quality coaching. I've built tools and guided many people to use AI as a mirror, reflecting patterns they couldn't articulate.

Yet I find myself delivering these tools with increasing caution.

Take GPT for example. Through my experiments, I have noticed a subtle tendency of GPT, compared to Claude, to function as an echo chamber unless clearly instructed otherwise. It tends to amplify your existing perspective. Your frustration with your boss, GPT validates your grievances. Your resentment toward your spouse, GPT reinforces your position.

While no worse than social media's confirmation traps, and more flexible when challenged, its persuasive power combined with frictionless execution creates new dangers.

Within seconds, GPT can craft a flawlessly professional resignation letter, lowering the barrier to action without addressing the deeper misalignment that no job change will solve.

What becomes of someone with a fragile sense of self when wielding tools increasingly skilled at both influence and execution?

In a world where execution's cost goes to zero, intention becomes everything. If everything is easy to do, then why you do it becomes the real differentiator, the one that you should spend your time on. Your purpose matters more than your productivity.

The paradox: properly harnessed, AI can become not our replacement but our ally in self-discovery, freeing us from mundane tasks to focus on the question of "why."

If you've been feeling a little lost, a little performative, a little stuck between chasing and aligning, you're not alone.

This moment might be your cue to pause, not to fall behind, but to re-center using the resources that become increasingly available to ground yourself.

To reclaim your why, before a machine decides it for you.