Before the Machines Awaken, We Must

Some of us have experienced a promotion at work, but all of us—whether we work or not—are now being placed before one. Not a promotion in title or role, but in how we think, decide, and act in a world shaped by AI.  

The same dynamics are at play here as in any promotion. Clinging to the capabilities that made one successful in a previous role rarely works in the next. Success there depends on developing the new capabilities the role demands. Likewise, success in an AI-shaped world—however one defines it—depends on new ways of thinking and acting. What’s more, the consequences of not adapting reach far beyond work, shaping how we experience life itself.

This “promotion offer” isn’t only for the individual; it also extends to the enterprises we work for and the societies we live in. What it will take for us to grow into this new role becomes clearer over time. The guiding principles, however, are neither new nor obscure:

• Believing in our potential—individually and collectively—to continually shape and guide our digital creations.
• Embracing a vision of flourishing with AI, rather than allowing it to narrow the breadth or diminish the depth of our individual and collective experience.
• Committing to a roadmap for progress across three frontiers: the individual, the enterprise, and society.

So what might that progress look like?

The Human Frontier: Toward a Fuller Human Experience   

Life often keeps us directed outward—to what’s happening around us or what seems to lie ahead. When the outside becomes murky and uncertain, we’re drawn to look inward for orientation. This is exactly where we begin to build belief in our greater potential and conceive a vision for realizing it.

This potential lies in the resources available to us all—the untapped capacities within the physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of our being. Millennia of medical inquiry into the human body haven’t yet unraveled its mysteries. The human mind continues to expand—seeking to explore the universe, to make sense of life at every scale, and to understand where we come from. Our emotions allow us to connect deeply with one another, to care, to belong, and at times to move entire communities into action. And our spirituality—perhaps the least understood dimension—may be the one holding the greatest untapped potential.

Can you imagine being able to tap into new abilities in each of these dimensions? This means we continually become wiser, more connected, more resilient, and more impactful in whatever we choose to do—at home, at work, or in our communities.

In Soulgery, I describe the roadmap toward this fuller human experience as four interconnected pathways: finding meaning in life, striving to make ever more profound impact, pursuing excellence in performance, and leveraging adversity for personal growth. Along these pathways, we discover our greater potential by becoming more human, and we learn to lead in our relationship with AI—rather than ceding direction to it.

When our growth unfolds within enterprises that are on a similar journey, the effects compound, creating momentum that benefits individuals, organizations, and the ecosystems they serve.

The Enterprise Frontier: Toward “Symbiotic” Growth  

In the early days of computing, the phrase “garbage in, garbage out” reminded us of a simple truth about the nature of computers: what they produce is shaped by what we put into them. Poor inputs inevitably lead to poor outputs. That underlying principle still holds. In the context of AI, however, the notion of “garbage in” extends far beyond flawed data. For enterprises, it is also a narrow and shallow view of value creation. And “garbage out,” beyond poor results, can translate into consequences that become existential for the enterprise itself.

Enterprises that treat their stakeholders as externalities to be managed and operate with a short-term lens are more likely to use AI narrowly—optimizing for speed, efficiency, or immediate cost reduction. These approaches may deliver quick wins, but they often result in unsustainable growth, invite resistance, and erode resilience.

By contrast, enterprises that view their stakeholders as integral to sustainable value creation and orient themselves toward long-term growth—what I call a Symbiotic Growth Enterprise (SGE)—find in AI a powerful ally. For the SGE, AI can extend human creativity, strengthen connections among stakeholders, and unlock value across the entire ecosystem. In these environments, intelligence spreads, trust deepens, and value compounds.

This tension between narrow self-interest and shared value appears across all forms of enterprise and institutions, including NGOs and academia. What differs is how short-termism manifests—for example, in favoring visibility over substance or immediate gains over lasting impact. The underlying pattern remains the same: narrow, short-term views constrain potential; systemic, long-term perspectives expand it.

The pivotal act for progress at the enterprise frontier is to embed an SGE culture deeply within organizations and allow it to extend across their ecosystems—shaping not only performance, but the societies they serve.

The Societal Frontier: Toward a Growth Society  

Individual and enterprise growth can compound in empowered societies—where access to opportunity and resources is broad, and confidence in the protection of one’s rights is high. At the core of this empowerment is how power is governed: who holds it, how it is shared, and to what end it is exercised. These determine whether a society grows through freedom or contracts through control.

The arrival of AI is reshaping power structures. Power is no longer concentrated solely in rulers, institutions, or capital; it now flows through data, algorithms, and the networks that shape perception and choice. At the same time, AI risks creating new concentrations of power among those who design, train, and deploy it.

Yet AI also opens avenues to counterbalance this centralization. As more individuals and enterprises learn to use AI not merely for efficiency but for mutual value creation, power begins to diffuse. In this model, influence is not anchored in control but in an expanded form of self-interest—one that understands how individual and collective well-being reinforce one another.

Governments have a crucial role to play in shaping how power evolves in the age of AI. They possess many levers to do so: governance frameworks that ensure transparency in algorithms and accountability for misuse, as well as incentive systems that align ambition with contribution.

The most enduring lever, however, is education. Governance can regulate, incentives can direct, and partnerships can distribute—but only education expands. Everything else depends on it because it equips people to exercise freedom with judgment, responsibility, and care.

In a growth society, education must evolve from a life-stage defined by age into a lifelong continuum in which every member of society remains a learner. Learning is no longer confined to schools or degrees; it becomes the rhythm of civic life itself. At every age, people evolve through new roles, technologies, and life chapters. The aim is to create a living ecosystem of learning and sharing—where curiosity becomes a civic virtue and lifelong growth is encouraged, supported, and celebrated.

As AI absorbs what can be measured and optimized, education’s next frontier lies in what cannot be digitized: the deeply human capacities that give intelligence its direction. This frontier includes self-awareness, moral discernment, empathy, imagination, initiative, and resilience. Here, education can leverage AI for deep personalization as a means to support human flourishing—individually, collectively, and across generations.

Our Awakening

There’s a common thread that runs through all three frontiers: over time, what serves us best is inseparable from the health of the systems we are part of. This does not mean abandoning self-interest in the name of some greater good, but learning to pursue it in more inclusive ways—by working with our environment, not against it.

That shift in mindset, practiced consistently by individuals and carried collectively through our societies, is the ground from which our true awakening emerges.

Written by Ahmet Bozer.