AI doesn't bite
File under: Self-improvement, yours and mine
Or else....
AI... [memo from tomorrow]
AI is a handy desk tool.
As common by 2026 as staplers, paper clips, scissors and tape...
¶ ...[AI is] a fun, shockingly efficient & VERY personal tool, too—if I may be so bold (AI likes & learns [!] you, when you let it: it can closely mimic yr personality & writing style, for instance; creepy, right ≈ until it turns a work stint at a computer into an interesting day at the mental spa)...
¶ ...a captivating new tool at your fingertips. It's LIKE you've acquired the world's speediest, most knowledgeable, most obedient and eager to please, polite, modest, complimentary personal assistant while at the same getting @ your command the known universe to explore ... a satisfying desk tool any idiot can use like a pro, a tool you can add today to your kit ... because, lord have mercy, AI's coming into every white-collar life whether we like it or not ... & sOOn...
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Today's topic for your discussing pleasure? AI (again). Artificial Intelligence. BELOW: A guest post researched and WRITTEN by psychologist (and tallest Phil Psych grad to date) Otis Fulton, Ph.D. [Teensy bit edited for length and your entertainment.]
I hear from fundraisers every day who are worried about AI.
For good reason, too.
A new study of more than 1,000 donors found that 40 percent feel uneasy about AI-generated appeals, and two-thirds list “AI-written messages” among their top concerns.
That’s not resistance to technology. That’s a crisis of trust. And trust is the foundation of every gift ever made.
We can’t write that off as “old donors being wary of new tools.” They’re telling us something deeper: they fear the loss of human intention behind the ask. They’re afraid of being talked at by systems that don’t actually care.
Humans care. AI cannot.
When AI Sounds Polished But Feels Empty
Because AI has no emotions, it tends to writes "slop." Copy pros disparage AI's typical writing as “beige goo"; i.e., dysfunctional; i.e., unlikely to sell well or call to action or bring the reader closer or stir an emotion from its nap; i.e., DOA.
Beige goo happens when language loses the psychology behind it. It happens when a message knows what to say, but not why and how to say it.
That’s why AI must be informed by social psychology. That branch of psychology studies what it means for us to be human together. Generosity spreads through identity. People act when they feel seen, part of something worthy. And there's a brain-evolved reason why the word “you” is the most powerful word in fundraising and other types of sales.
The Emotional Architecture of Giving
Social psychology gives us the map:
Identity: People give to express who they are.
Reciprocity: Gratitude sustains belonging.
Consistency: Donors act in alignment with past commitments.
Collective Efficacy: People are moved when they feel their actions join others.
These are the emotional architecture of giving.
So yes, AI can help us write faster. But without psychological guidance, it traffics in mediocrity. We have to bring our judgment, our ethics, and our unique voices to the work, because empathy remains a human exclusive.
Dear Reader: This is an excerpt from Tom Ahern’s e-newsletter. Did you miss crucial back issues of this how-to e-news? Immediately available! Just GO here. (And scroll down just a bit to sign up for Tom’s revenue-boosting tips and insights. In your inbox regularly. It’s free.)