We have entered an era in which machines compute fast, and decide faster. A time in which artificial intelligence, together with social media, algorithms and technology are already influencing how we make decisions and control systems.
I have (I had to) asked myself whether we are ready to face such levels of influence. To me the question is not whether AI will takeover or change the world. The real question is: who are we becoming in the process?
The risk is not, at least not the only one, AI controlling decision making and systems, the far more dangerous risk is we forget how to imagine and instead become reactive, efficient, optimised beings which in reality are just disconnected.
Disconnected from one another. Disconnected from mystery. Disconnected from the deep, inner voice that speaks in symbols, color, movement, and story. Disconnected from the creative nature that connects us to the rest of the world.
We are becoming more and more vulnerable because of:
Low information literacy.
Susceptibility to misinformation.
Algorithmic manipulation of public opinion.
Conspiracy theories overpowering fact-checking.
We may reach critical levels of AI influence and dependency faster than governance or public awareness can respond.
As AI begins to dominate narrative shaping and support decision making processes, we need to pay more attention to media literacy education and critical thinking. But also we need to reclaim truth and feelings, re-build resilience through empathy, metaphor, and ambiguity, counter AI’s push for optimisation and control with creativity and deep reflection.
This is not a technological crisis. It is a crisis of the soul.
We have always had the illusion of control. We created all sorts of systems and mindset analysis to be able to predict, suggest, or optimise. But let me ask, where do we turn for meaning?
We are not made of logic alone.
We are made of contradictions.
We are made of myth.
We are made of longings.
And it is through art that we remember this.
Art is not a product. It is a way of being. It is the process of becoming wholeheartedly human.
It is the practice of being fully present, even in uncertainty.
It is how we explore complexity without demanding a solution or control.
It is how we stay open when the world demands closure.
Art is essential to our own being and becoming.
In this era of AI, art is an urgency.
In a world racing toward automation, the deepest act of leadership is not speed. It is presence. The risk is trading wonder for convenience.
If machines start making our tales, who will know how to dream?
If voices are drowned in predictive optimisation, who will know to care?
The weakness isn’t just in the tech, it’s in us.
We may willingly hand over “control” not through force, but fatigue; especially when search results, media feeds, and political ads are optimized for engagement, not truth. That’s how we shape public opinion and decision making.
So yes, we could see a faster collapse of human agency, not due to AI becoming “too smart”, but because we become too trusting, confused, or divided to respond effectively.
This is not a contest between humans and machines; it’s between systems of control and cultures of imagination.
We must remember how to dream, create, and care...
I advocate for art & imagination as as sort of resilience practices; a cultural invitation not just to prevent the flattening effects of AI, but to expand and deepen our imaginative capacities in the face of accelerating technological change.
Art reminds us of what it feels like to be human, the subtle, contradictory, irrational beauty of our inner worlds. It defies optimisation. It is a shift from performance-focused to imagination-focused culture. Imagination influences what we create, not just how fast we build it.
With Artful Leadership and Artful Mindset programs, I invite us all to engage with creativity not as decoration or entertainment but as a practice of wholeness.
Poetry to listen to silence. Storytelling to name what data alone cannot explain. Reflection and self-reflection to practice wisdom beyond the algorithm.
So, I want to ask you some (provocative) questions:
Where in your work are you optimising and losing touch with meaning?
What would shift if you approached leadership as a creative practice of witnessing, not just as a role?
Where in work as in life you can invite in creativity, not as escape, but as insight?
I do not want you to rush into answering them. I want you to let these inquiries linger and live them.
Can we remember who we are, not just what we can automate?
Through story, music, painting, poetry, through art broadly, we access shared emotional truths across cultures and time. AI might mimic them, but only humans can feel them.
Let’s start thinking like a strategist (I almost wrote artegist, yes, I made that up), not a fatalist. There are countermeasures that could meaningfully slow or redirect this trajectory. But they need courage, care, and creativity, three things we’re currently struggling with.
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