The AI echo chamber experiment

Is AI helping or hurting our ability to manage ourselves?

My takeaways after the experiment that challenges my self-awareness.

I built a simple experiment: an AI platform that channels three distinct coaching perspectives simultaneously. My go-to combination? Brené Brown, Richard Branson, and Steve Jobs.

When I shared "I'm not satisfied with my progress this week," here's what emerged:

Brené: "It sounds like you're being really hard on yourself right now. What story are you telling yourself about this week?" (Empathy)

Branson: "Are you having any fun with the journey, or just fixating on the destination?" (Energy)

Jobs: "You don't have time for disappointment. What's the one thing you can ship today that moves you forward?" (Edge)

Through these 3 lenses, I got self-awareness and clarity about how I wanted to move forward.

This is AI's promise: instant access to diverse perspectives that challenge our thinking.

But the catch is: after some time, these 3 coaches start sounding the same.

Because they aim to serve me, instead of staying true to their principles independent from me.

So gradually, they gravitate toward becoming my echo chamber. It is glaring, as the 3 distinct coaches start to merge.

While I'd love to think that I grow to channel Steve Jobs, it's the AI Steve Jobs adjusting to me, which is as non-Steve Jobs as it gets.

The difference between AI that develops you versus AI that diminishes you isn't in the technology. It's in how deliberately you engage with it.

Are you ready to hear what you don't want to believe about yourself?

Are you willing to constantly self-check, adapt, and refine the prompts, the mechanism? Because the machine has zero incentive to do that for you.

Who are the 2-3 voices you'd want in your corner when you're stuck? And more importantly: would you intentionally seek the red pill?