Week 4: The Human Element

🎥 Session recording: https://youtu.be/N3aBMWAZMxA — unlisted, for the cohort and alumni. Please don't share publicly: the capstone showcase (second half) is consent-gated until presenters opt in.

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🧭 Dashboard · Week 1 **** · Week 2 · **Week 3 ·** Week 4 · Resource Library

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Week 4: Authenticity, Relationships & Meaning - ****June 12 · 3:00-4:30 PM PT · Capstone: 4:30-6:00 PM PT

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We end where it matters most: with the human.

After three weeks of tools, frameworks, and risk analysis, this session asks the harder questions.

What does it mean to remain the author of your own thinking in an AI-saturated world?

What are we choosing to keep for ourselves?

Authenticity: Deepfakes, synthetic media, and the erosion of trust
Social Life: Human-AI relationships, sycophancy, and vulnerable populations
Language & Thought: The cognitive consequences of outsourcing reasoning
Human-Centric Design: Wellbeing, autonomy, and what we owe each other

Reading

Consciousness Hygiene - *The Guardian · Michael Pollan, 2026 -* On the role of the human in an increasingly AI-present world and the practices that protect inner life.

‘Our consciousness is under siege’: Michael Pollan on chatbots, social media and mental freedom

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China's Approach to AI Anthropomorphism - *Luiza's Newsletter -* A policy posture to regulate anthropomorphic AI systems and a useful counterpoint to Western regulatory approaches.

China's Approach to AI Anthropomorphism

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I'm So Sycophantic - *Me + Viv podcast -* A conversation on sycophancy as a structural feature of AI systems and what it means for how we relate to them.

I’m So Sycophantic

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The Cost of No Friction - *Reclaim Childhood Media -* The critical role of cognitive friction in the development of personal identity and what happens when AI removes it.

The Cost of No Friction

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Canada Lagging Global Peers in AI Trust and Literacy - *KPMG Canada, 2025 -* Trust and adoption of AI among developed nations and what it means for responsible deployment in Canada.

Canada is lagging behind global peers in AI trust and literacy

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Human-Centered AI: What Is Human-Centric Artificial Intelligence? - *Lindenwood University -* An accessible overview of human-centric AI principles and their application.

Human-Centered AI: What Is Human-Centric Artificial Intelligence? | Lindenwood University

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I helped build Facebook and saw it go wrong. AI is headed the same way. - A first-person account of what happens when platform incentives override human wellbeing and the structural parallels with AI today.

I helped build Facebook and saw it go wrong. AI is headed the same way

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