The Human Secret AI Hasn’t Cracked

I don’t like Mondays!

That’s not a reason. Nevertheless, I won’t let AI write my LinkedIn posts, and that one sentence reminded me of one more good reason.

Someone recently explained on LinkedIn how AI can’t fake a genuine conversation about the taste of apples. Why? Because it can’t taste. Good point. I should comment.

I got up from the breakfast table, placed my mug next to the kettle, so I could make another cup of coffee later (yes, I still use an old-fashioned kettle), and walked into my home office. 

Do I like apples? My mind drifted. I don’t like apples. And there it was. I could hear it in my mind. That song, which became iconic and symbolic for crumbling moral boundaries in the early 80’s.

That one line that shocked an entire generation of students and parents to the core. A super hit that accompanied me from adolescence into adulthood and helped frame how I see the world.

No, it’s not connected to apples and certainly not to AI. Or is it? 

I asked three different LLMs to write 200 words about ‘I don’t like Mondays’. 

None of them mentioned the song. Had I asked an 80’s music lover, that would have been the first thing they thought of. 

In fact, I believe my entire generation (and maybe the one following) would have at least thought about Bob Geldof’s masterpiece, and it would have been the beginning of a conversation.

That’s how humans connect. We share associations based on experiences. 

A random sentence gets someone singing a song, or citing a piece from stand-up comedy (Sharon! - As ta’iri oto). 

We recognize it and feel connected. It makes us laugh together, remember feelings, and wonder what else we have in common. 

Shared associations open the door to another person’s inner world. 

Bottom line: I write to connect with people. AI is missing a core ingredient to do that. It has no real-world experience to spark random associations like this.

The secret of how humans connect isn't accessible to AI.  

P.S. I actually do like apples