Humans vs. AI: Don’t Lose That Spark!
July 8, 2025
As a business leader, how do you know what tasks to delegate to AI and what needs a more human touch? That’s what we’re here to explore.
Open your laptop, and your screen ignites with movement. AI prompts and suggestions bombard you with every button you press. Search results, article headlines, even your task list echo the question, “What can AI do for you today?” This thrilling technology feels like stepping onto an uncharted ridgeline. Vistas of possibility unfold everywhere. You sense momentum and innovation in the air.
You’ve blazed new trails before. Fortunately, experience has taught you that not every shortcut leads to where you want to go. Some tools truly help you move more efficiently. Others just create noise. Your hesitation to dive head-first into the AI movement is understandable. As both explorers of what’s possible and students of what really works, we’ve learned that you need balance. AI can haul the brunt of the load. You still need to be the compass. How? Let’s take a closer look.
A Little History: Humans Were the First Supercomputers
Back in the 1950s and ‘60s, the brains behind America’s space program were the people who crunched the numbers, commonly called “human computers.” Many of them, especially Black women like Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, were crucial to the successful aircraft designs and space missions of the day. These geniuses and mathematicians worked mostly behind the scenes, breaking down complex problems into manageable, solvable equations with stunning accuracy.
Shetterly, M.L. (2016). Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race. William Morrow.
These pioneers weren’t punching the numbers into a device. They checked trajectories, spotted errors, and predicted the “what ifs” that mechanical computers couldn’t spot, all on their own. Over time, the machines started to do the heavy lifting. They solved mathematical formulas and stored a vast amount of information. When mechanical computers analyzed the data, it meant humans didn’t need to memorize launch specs anymore. But they still needed someone who could pause and say, “Hang on, something’s not right.”
Where AI Shines
In the 1950s, the public watched the dawn of mechanical computers with a combination of fascination and fear. Computers could perform certain tasks much quicker than humans. Many feared that computers would displace humans in the workforce. Those same fears exist today. Go figure.
As a business owner, you have a choice. You can adapt to this new wave of technology, reroute your map, or you can get ambushed by it. Try leaning into what AI does best. Step aside to let AI do a lot of the grunt work. It can:
- Speed Up Brainstorming.
Bounce around ideas for blog posts or headlines. Whatever is on your mind. - Fill In Drafts:
Need an outline for your meeting agenda or your newsletter article? Just say the word and it’s done. - Check for Accuracy.
Never worry about spelling or grammar again when you have tools in your pack that highlight your errors. - Summarize Longform Content:
AI compresses your meeting discussion or research into bullet points and digestible takeaways. Less is more. - Detect Patterns:
Whether AI analyzes customer behavior or marketing campaign performance, it sees the trends. - Be Consistent:
It can write dozens of 25-word product descriptions in under a minute.
Since AI remembers everything and forgets nothing, keep this fabulous resource in your fanny pack. That said, even though it moves like lightning, it lacks in three ways: Navigation, Protection, and Illumination.
Navigation: The Emotion That Pushes You Forward
AI hasn’t lived. It can’t possibly understand the complicated relationship you have with your parents. The joy of opening up that email with a scholarship offer. The embarrassment of being teased by the high school basketball team. AI mimics emotions, and even writes a passable love letter, but it doesn’t know the feeling of goose bumps or tearing up. And sarcasm – that’s off the map. What feels like emotion is just fancy guesswork based on patterns of what it’s seen before.
AI doesn’t care. You do.
Your emotion shows in your content. Your authentic, flawed, human self has walked trails before. Your customers pick up on it in how you talk to them. They relate to the story you tell. The way you say it matters. It builds connection in a way that a machine cannot.
AI might be able to copy style. It might see patterns in advertising or story telling formulas, but it can’t tell your story.
That navigational spark is human and always has been.
Protection: Your Instincts Shield You When Something is Off
AI can analyze spelling and grammar, but it can’t read the room. It doesn’t realize when something isn’t right. AI can spout a friendly-sounding message, but definitely doesn’t pick up on the subtle client pauses.
That kind of awareness, that emotional radar, is still a 100% human skill.
You know that sixth sense you get when you’re headed the wrong direction? Or when you’re on a client call and the tone of their voice sounds less than thrilled? That’s your gut talking. And it’s worth listening to.
Intuition matters, especially when it comes to your business.
Illumination: Your Human Touch Makes Your Content More Authentic
When you know a hike really well, you naturally know the best shady spots to stop and rest. You can point out the bird’s nest that wasn’t there last year. Or, the large pock-marked boulder that means you’re almost to the top. While AI might feed you generic hiking information, it can’t fill in the details.
When it comes to the content for your business, your human touch is crucial. Try:
- Adding some humor. Even if it’s a dad joke, a pun, or eyerolling, dry humor, it’s better than robot-silence. AI’s bad at jokes.
- Choosing the right metaphor: Your life experience has opened the world to you. Your adventures already relate to things AI cannot.
- Tightening the rhythm. Great writing doesn’t just sum up the facts into bullet points. It’s more than grammatically correct sentences or punctuation in the right places. It flows.
- Matching the moment: The tone for a celebration social media post feels different. Remember the excitement of the day you first opened your doors and celebrated with a Dr. Pepper? That jubilation and hesitation all mixed into one less-than-formal ribbon-cutting ceremony? AI doesn’t know the difference between a celebration and a crisis.
- Knowing what NOT to say. Sometimes the best content litters the cutting room floor. Less is more. AI doesn’t know what to cut or how to make a greater impact.
Think of it like a perfect walking stick. AI might mill the wood and cut the board in half. But the sanding, sealing, carving, and intricate detail work? That’s you. That’s craftsmanship.
The Danger of Extremes
At JamboJon, we love the AI tools in our backpack. We have a rule: Every project MUST start and end with a human. In the article, “When Humans and AI Work Better Together – and When Each is Better Alone.” This research found that “Humans excel at subtasks involving contextual understanding and emotional intelligence, while AI systems excel at subtasks that are repetitive, high-volume, or data-driven.” MIT Sloan professor Thomas W. Malone, CCI’s director, summed it up nicely: “Combinations of humans and AI work best when each party can do the thing they do better than the other.”
So, business leaders, don’t let AI take over. You don’t want your brand to start sounding like everybody else. Do what YOU do best.
How to Balance Use of AI:
- Let AI Help You Start. Use it for outlines, brainstorming, rough drafts, or data summaries.
- Stay in the driver’s seat. Make sure you’re deciding why you’re saying something, not just HOW.
- Finish with heart. Bring your gut, your values, your lived experience to the table. That’s what people connect with.
- Don’t lose your voice. Build a tone that’s unmistakably yours. You can teach AI to follow, not lead.
- Use your instincts. If something feels off, it probably is. Your gut has better radar than any algorithm.
Summary
Humans made it to the moon. We designed rockets and launches that pushed the boundaries of innovation. Since then, engineers and scientists have repeated this amazing feat multiple times over. Now, with the help of mechanical computers and automated tasks, they can do it faster and more accurately. It didn’t eliminate the need for humans, just changed our roles a little.
As you embark on your entrepreneurial journey, AI offers you a powerful tool. It helps you do better, faster work. But remember, the emotion, intuition and human touch that connects with your clients still comes directly from you.
Do what you do best.
