Being human in an AI-driven world

A reflection on learning, human connection, and why effort is sometimes the point.

Artificial intelligence promises to make life easier. I’m not sure that’s a good thing.

As a college student, I’m watching that promise play out in real time.

This semester, I prepared for two exams in the same Media Law class in two very different ways. For the midterm, I studied almost exclusively with AI. I put in countless hours and asked hundreds of questions. I felt prepared. The result was fine, but it wasn’t remarkable.

For the final exam, I switched things up. I studied with a partner, and we camped out in the same spot across the hall from my professor’s office from Monday morning until Wednesday night. We intercepted classmates who stopped by with questions and ended up studying with us. Conversations flowed beyond classroom material, and studying together became something deeper than exam preparation. By the end of the week, I had built relationships I didn’t have before and strengthened ones that had previously been limited to lectures and brief academic interactions.

I performed significantly better on the final than I had on the midterm.

This contrast has left me curious. The difference wasn’t effort, time, or knowledge — it was presence. The learning that mattered the most didn’t come from artificial conversations. It came from human connections.

This experience has made me realize that we often trade pieces of our humanity for convenience. I’m questioning what we might be giving up in the process.

I don’t think the answer is rejecting technology, but instead it’s remembering ourselves within it. In an artificial world, fostering human connection may be the most important thing we can still do. Not because it’s efficient, but because it’s real.