Another Kind of Independence

America just celebrated 250 years of independence. Rather than add one more voice to the many thoughtful reflections about our nation’s history, I found myself thinking about another kind of independence entirely.

The intellectual kind.

I mean the ability to think for ourselves and stay curious. To wrestle with an idea before immediately asking Google, ChatGPT or whatever AI assistant comes next.

Maybe I notice it more because of what I do for a living. I’ve spent more than twenty years helping organizations communicate more effectively. Every client has a story to tell and important messages to share. My job is to uncover what makes them unique and help communicate it clearly.

I spend a huge amount of time reading emails, newsletters, social media posts, video reels and community announcements. Lately I’ve noticed a pattern. I’ll read an email from a colleague and think, Wow…that was incredibly well written. Thoughtful and courteous and maybe even a little too polished. Does that really sound like them? A few minutes later I’m scrolling past another Facebook reel with that same oddly familiar robotic male voice explaining the proper way to pressure wash a driveway or fold a fitted sheet.

It's campaign season, and candidate forum announcements, mail pieces and social media posts from completely different campaigns are looking remarkably similar: graphics, layouts, color palettes, sometimes even the same taglines.

And now, we’ve reached a strange point where we’re changing the way we write just to avoid sounding like AI. I used to use em dashes without a second thought. Now I catch myself deleting them because they've become the unofficial punctuation mark of AI.

My favorite election season quote has always been, “Your vote is your voice.” This year it made me think about another kind of voice. The one shaped by everything we’ve lived through.

I don’t think AI is the problem. It’s making it easier than ever for more people to write, design, create videos and build websites in ways that simply weren’t possible even a year ago. More people have access to these tools than ever before, and that’s exciting and helps level the playing field.

What concerns me is when we start handing over something no software can replace. Our thinking. And trust me, I’m not throwing stones. I use AI every day. It helps me research unfamiliar topics, organize complicated information and pressure-test ideas.

Technology can help us write but it can’t live our lives for us. And it’s our lived experiences - not our prompts - that give each of us something worth saying.

The best ideas rarely arrive the first time. They emerge after another conversation, another perspective and another draft you didn’t think you needed. They improve because we’re willing to change our minds.

For 250 years, each generation has inherited the responsibility of protecting America’s independence. Maybe our generation has another responsibility too. To protect the independent voice that comes from living a real life, asking difficult questions and doing the sometimes messy work of thinking for ourselves. I hope we never stop using technology to make life easier. I also hope we never stop doing the work that only people can do. Happy Independence Day.