01
Identity & Purpose
How we define ourselves when machines can do much of what we do.
aisalonEmpowering AI ConnectionsAI & Human
Flourishing
A Facilitator's Field Guide for Chapter Conversations
What does it mean to be human in the age of AI?
“Not what can AI do — but who are we becoming while it does it?”
Identity & PurposeEducation & DevelopmentWork & Economic LifeWell-Being & Mental HealthRelationships & CommunityCreativity & Culture
Grounded in AI and the Art of Being Human
by Jeff Abbott & Andrew Maynard
Go Be Human.
To Our Global Salon
Thank you to every panelist and speaker lighting up the AI Salon.
From Amsterdam to Sydney, from researchers and founders to artists and educators — you are the voices turning a global campaign into a living conversation. Your willingness to sit in the room, ask the harder question, and stay human while the machines get faster is what makes this Salon worth gathering for. This field guide is yours. Use it well.
The Conversation
AI & Human Flourishing: What does it mean to be human in the age of AI?
The AI Salon doesn't lead with “what can AI do?” We lead with the quieter, harder question: who are we becoming while it does it — and what will we choose to remain?
Every city in this global campaign gathers around the same six angles. Each panel, each circle, each late-night hallway conversation picks the angle that resonates most in that place — the one the room cannot leave alone. Below, the six. Find yours.
Six Angles · One Question
The angle that resonates most in your city is the door. Walk through it — the other five are still in the room.
A Salon isn't a lecture. It's three or more people willing to sit with a question that doesn't resolve. The facilitator's job is not to answer — it's to keep the room honest, curious, and human.
14
Cities
6
Angles
1
Question
The Six Angles
Find the one that resonates most in your city.
02
Education & Development
Preparing people, especially youth, to thrive alongside AI.
03
Work & Economic Life
The future of human labor, creativity, and economic value.
04
Well-being & Mental Health
Managing anxiety, meaning, and resilience in the age of AI.
05
Relationships & Community
Trust, empathy, and human connection in an AI-mediated world.
06
Creativity & Culture
Art, expression, and cultural meaning when machines create.
14 Cities · One Conversation
The world is gathering.
Hover or tap a marker to meet the city. Each dot is a room — a chapter convening around the question of what it means to be human in the age of AI.
Hosting cities:HoustonSydneyChicagoMilanAmsterdamTel AvivHermosilloRomeBolognaOsakaDubaiSão PauloGuatemala CityNew York
14 cities · 10 countries · 7 regions
How to Host This Conversation
A note from the founder's desk
I've always felt more at home on Main Street than on Wall Street — the place where people say hello, where the question under the question is always human. That's the whole wager of this campaign. Our chapters don't lead with "what can AI do?" We lead with the quieter, harder one: who are you becoming while it does it — and what will you choose to remain?
This guide gives you six conversation areas, each grounded in AI and the Art of Being Human. My co-author Andrew Maynard brings the academic altitude — the research on responsible innovation and human futures from his work at ASU. I bring the practitioner's floor: a VC who's watched perfect strategies collapse on contact with reality, and who believes care is a competitive edge, not a moral nicety. Keep both voices in the room. The friction between the lab and the bench is where the good conversation lives.
How each theme page works
Pick one area, or run all six as a series. Each is built for 45–90 minutes with a circle of three to thirty.
- 1A frame — the human question beneath the technical one.
- 2Read-aloud lines — short quotes (with page numbers) to set the temperature.
- 3Questions — open prompts to put on the table; pick three, don't rush.
- 4Stories — named characters from the book to anchor the abstract.
- 5Tools — one or two, each with a "run-it-in-the-room" recipe.
- 6A one-line vow — something to carry out the door.
Three things that make a salon work
The smallest viable community is three people. You don't need thirty.
Three is enough
The smallest viable community is three people. You don't need thirty.
Check in before you dig in
Borrow Diana's three questions — curiosity, concern, care — to open.
Hold space, gently
Well-Being especially can open real doors. Host the conversation; don't diagnose it. If something heavy surfaces, honor it and point toward trusted support.
Your Compass for Every Theme
The Four Postures
Bring these four stances into every conversation. They keep the room honest — and human.
01
Curiosity
Stay willing to be surprised — resist defaulting to the obvious answer.
02
Intentionality
Choose consciously rather than following algorithmic momentum.
03
Clarity
See what the model misses — the human context beneath the data.
04
Care
Choose human flourishing over pure optimization.
Six Conversation Areas
Pick an area. Open the room.
Each area is a complete 45–90 minute salon. Mark questions as discussed, jot notes, and complete the one-line vow. Your progress saves automatically.
01
Identity & Purpose
When a machine can imitate what you do, the question turns inward — who are you when output is no longer the proof?
Open the Room — Read Aloud
Set the temperature
We don't make art because we're skilled, but because we're mortal.
The mirror of AI shows us what we do. The question is: what will we choose to become?
Questions to Put on the Table
Pick three. Don't rush.
- 01
When you first watched AI do something you thought was yours, what came up — amazement, excitement, or anxiety? Sit with whichever it was.
- 02
List ten things you'll do this week. Tag each Replicable, Relational, or Transcendent. Where are most of your hours going?
- 03
What would you keep doing even if AI did it better than you tomorrow — and why that?
- 04
The book asks us to stop being special and start being real. Where are you still performing specialness?
- 05
Finish the line: "What makes me irreplaceable isn't what I do — it's ______."
- 06From the Field
So much identity is welded to a title or a rung on the ladder. If AI loosens that grip, is it liberation from the "one path" — or the loss of the scaffolding we used to know ourselves by?
One-Line Vow
Something to carry out the door
“I'll let AI carry the replicable, so I can give my life to the transcendent.”
Practical Tools
Six areas, twelve tools
Every tool drawn from AI and the Art of Being Human — Jeff Abbott & Andrew Maynard. Tap any tool name to open its full interactive guide.
01Area
Identity & Purpose
02Area
Education & Development
03Area
Work & Economic Life
04Area
Well-Being & Mental Health
05Area
Relationships & Community
06Area
Creativity & Culture
From Reader to Convener
The light we make together
Every one of these conversations is a seed. The book becomes the curriculum; the chapter becomes the circle; the circle becomes the flywheel. That's how a small-town hello scales into a global community — not by broadcasting, but by gathering, three people at a time.
The One-Line Vow
Make it yours.
Specific enough to guide a daily choice; open enough to evolve. Say it out loud, to three people who'll hold you to it.
“I will use AI to so that .”
Close Any Session With the Commitment Ladder
Three rungs, three horizons
(Ch. 13)
Step 01
In 24 hours
One tiny, real action — print the Pocket Card, message the two people you'd build a circle with.
Step 02
In 30 days
A learning review — what worked, what was harder than expected, how your understanding shifted.
Step 03
In 1 year
Teach someone. Start a chapter. Wisdom hoarded helps no one.