I’m convinced that AI will not destroy our need for personal connection, humanity, stories, and expression.

The reason I’m so convinced of that is because of one word.

Culture.

When people talk about AI, they underestimate the power of culture.

As in common values and thinking. The slow, invisible force that decides what actually sticks in our lives and what doesn’t.

Here’s what most people miss. When something new arrives, it has to pass through culture before it changes anything. And culture moves slowly.

I’ve been writing online since 2015.

I never had a huge viral moment. No post that broke the internet. No overnight explosion.

I still built a large audience.

I’m telling you this because most people carry the wrong model in their head. They think an audience gets built in one big moment. One viral video. One post that takes off. One lucky break that changes everything.

So they wait for it. They publish something, watch it get fourteen likes, and decide they failed. Then they quit.

I almost did the same thing.