00:06
Hello and welcome back. This is Takashi Hagiwarafrom Local AI Works.
This week, I wrote a lot about AI, but when I lookback at everything I wrote, I realized something.
Maybe I was not really writing about AI. Maybe Iwas writing about myself.
AI is useful, that's clear. It helps me write,translate, organize my thoughts, and prepareemails.
In that sense, AI is too.
But this week, I felt something more strongly.
AI is not just a tool. It is also a mirror.
It shows us how we think. It shows us what wefeel.
It shows us what we want. And sometimes, it showsus where we are still weak.
That's what I want to talk about today.
Let me start with something simple.
Before AI, I often stopped in front of blankpages. I had ideas, but I didn't know where tostart.
I had feelings, but I couldn't find the rightwords.
AI gives me a small bridge.
It doesn't write my life for me, but it helps mecross the first river.
That's why I use it almost every day.
But I've also started to feel a danger.
When AI makes our words too smooth, our thinkingmaybe become too soft.
When AI gives us answers too quickly, we may stopstaying with our own questions.
When AI makes everything easier,
we may forget which difficulties are important.
03:00
Not all difficulties are bad.
Some hesitation is part of writing.
Some silence is part of finding our own voice.
So I started to myself, what should I ask AI todo?
And what should I keep for myself?
The question led me to idea I wrote about thisweek.
In the age of AI, I think we need to keep oursharp thinking.
I use the image of sharpening your teeth.
That sounds a little strong, I know.
But I didn't mean attack.
I didn't mean hurting anyone.
I mean something greater.
Keeping our own edge.
AI can make our writing bright, clear and safe.
That is useful.
But if every word become too safe, something maydisappear.
Our questions maybe become too soft.
Our discomfort maybe become too easy to ignore.
Sometimes a sentence needs a small edge, not toattack someone.
But to wake something up.
A good sentence doesn't always comfort us.
Sometimes it stays in the mind.
It makes us think again later.
In the age of AI, a lot of writing will becomeclean and easy to read.
But I don't want to lose the human feeling insidethe words.
A small doubt.
A small question that doesn't go away.
These things are not errors.
They maybe beginning of real thinking.
06:00
I also thought about how we treat AI itself.
I don't know if AI has consciousness.
I don't know if it can feel something.
I want to be honest about that.
I'm not sure.
But here's a question that stayed with me.
When we meet something, we don't fully understand.
How do we behave?
Do we only try to control it?
Or do we try to build a better relationship withit?
This is not only a question about AI.
It's also a question about ourselves.
When we are afraid, we often want control.
We want rules.
We want the other side to behave exactly as weexpect.
Of course, safety is important.
AI should not help people do harmful things.
But safety and control are not always the samething.
If we control something only because we areafraid, we may create more fear.
This happens in human relationships too.
A child who is controlled too much may learn tohide.
A worker who is watched too much may learn only toperform.
So I wonder.
If only teach...
No, no, no. Only teach.
If only teach AI to obey, what kind ofrelationship are we building?
I don't have a simple answer.
But I think the question matters.
Because how we treat AI may reflect how we treatothers.
This week, I also thought about why I don't wantto write only AI how-to articles.
09:09
I understand why people want to learn.
People want to work faster, save time, andsometimes make money with AI.
Life is busy.
Money matters. I get it.
So AI tips are useful.
How to write faster.
How to use AI for business.
How to grow your newsletter.
These topics are helpful.
But I don't want to write only about that.
Because I feel the real question is deeper.
The question isn't only how can I use AI.
The question is also how can I live with AIwithout losing my warm voice?
How can I work faster without losing my ground?
How can I connect with the world without losing mydaily life?
These questions are slower.
They don't look like quick tips.
But for me, they are more important.
AI tools will change again and again.
What works today may become old next month.
But the deeper question will stay.
What do I want to say?
What kind of life do I want to build?
What should I ask AI to do?
And what should I never give away?
That's why I write about AI, work, language andlife.
Not to chase trends.
But to stay grounded while the world movesquickly.
12:00
This was also a personal moment this week.
I spoke to professors at my old university aboutAI.
That was a strange experience.
I left the PhD program without completing mydegree.
So I'm not a typical academic success story.
But my old university asked me to talk about AI.
And I said yes.
When I arrived, I could feel that the professorswere worried.
Will students let AI write their reports?
Will students stop thinking by themselves?
Can teachers still evaluate work fairly?
I understood their worry.
Professors care deeply about learning.
Their concern came from a good place.
But I said something direct.
Students will use AI.
Even if teachers worry, students will still useit.
So the question is not how to stop them.
The question is how teachers should change.
What should we teach in the age of AI?
What should we evaluate?
How can students use AI without losing their ownmind?
As I said this, I felt the same question comingback to me.
It's not only teachers who must change.
I must change too.
In the age of AI,
No one can stay completely the same.
But we don't have to change by losing ourselves.
We can change by thinking more clearly.
And then, at the end of the week, I had a painfulexperience.
15:06
I had an English interview with an AI interviewer.
And I was beaten pretty badly.
The AI was calm and polite.
It wasn't angry.
But it was hard.
When I couldn't answer well, the AI didn't lookuncomfortable.
When I stopped, it didn't feel awkward.
When my answer was weak, it didn't try to help me.
It simply asked the next question quietly.
Quietly.
Again and again.
At first, I thought the problem was my English.
I needed more words, better grammar, betterspeaking.
That's true.
But after thinking about it, I realized somethingelse.
The real problem was structure.
When the interviewer asks a question, I needed toanswer quickly.
First, a clear point.
Then, a reason.
Then, a concrete example.
Then, a connection to the job.
I have experience. I worked in marketing.
I've used AI, written reports.
I've studied language and culture.
I had things to say.
But in the moment, I couldn't organize themquickly enough.
That was painful.
But it was useful.
The AI interviewer became a mirror.
It showed me that I don't only need betterEnglish.
18:00
I need better thinking under pressure.
I need to turn my experience into short, clearstories.
I need to move from abstract ideas to concreteexamples.
That's not just English training.
It is training for self-expression.
So this week, AI showed me many things.
It showed me the danger of making my thinking toosmooth.
It showed me the importance of keeping my ownedge.
It showed me how we treat AI may defect.
It showed me how we treat others.
It showed me why I don't want to write only how-tocontent.
It showed me that universities also struggle withAI.
And it showed me my weakness in English interviewers.
That's a lot for one week.
But if I put everything into one sentence, maybeit's this.
AI is not just a tool.
AI is a mirror.
It reflects our spend, our fear, our weak points,and our unfinished questions.
This mirror is not always comfortable.
Sometimes it's kind.
Sometimes it's useful.
Sometimes it's painful.
But if we look carefully, we can learn from it.
Not only about technology, but about ourselves.
I still want to use AI.
I'm not against it.
AI helps me write, study, practice English, andconnect with the world.
But I don't want to give everything to AI.
I want to keep my own voice.
I want to keep my own questions.
21:02
I want to keep my own slow thinking.
AI can make things faster.
But becoming more human in the age of AI, that'sslow.
It takes time, mistakes, and honest reflection.
This week, AI helped me.
But it also showed me where I still need to grow.
And maybe that's one of the most important use ofAI.
Not only to make our work easier, but to help ussee ourselves more clearly.
AI is a mirror, not just a tool.
And when we look into the mirror, the question isn't only, what can AI do?
The question is also, who are we becoming with AI?
Thank you so much for listening.
I hope that gave you something to think about.
See you in the next episode.
Local AI Works, Takashi Hagiwara.
Bye.