I’m stuck in my own head. There, I said it.
Not in a dramatic way. In the very normal, human way where you think you’re seeing the full picture, but you’re really just circling the same thoughts from the same angle. Your own bubble. Your own defaults.
That’s why I experiment with AI. Not because I’m chasing hype. Because I want perspectives I don’t have access to on my own.
The idea that got me thinking
What if you could pick a guide? Not a chatbot. A guide with a specific perspective, a body of work, a way of seeing the world. Someone like Gabor Maté helping you reflect on patterns in your life. Esther Perel challenging how you think about relationships. Or Michael Jackson walking you through what it means to feel music before you sing a single note.
This isn’t science fiction. AI makes it possible to model someone’s published thinking and apply it in conversation. You’re not talking to that person, obviously. But you’re engaging with their framework. Their lens. And that alone can crack open something new in your own mind.
Does something like this already exist? In pieces, yes. Custom GPTs, persona prompts, AI coaching tools. But most of them are shallow. They mimic tone, not depth. The real potential is in structured, thoughtful applications where the guide’s expertise actually shapes the experience.
Is it legal? That’s a fair question. Using someone’s published ideas as a framework is generally fine. Impersonating them or commercializing their likeness is where it gets complicated. It’s worth being honest about that grey area instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.
Why this matters to me personally
Right now, the world is heavy. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. A lot of what’s happening is deeply disturbing, and I don’t think ignoring it helps anyone.
But I also can’t run on that energy. Nobody can. If I want to do something useful, I need to find fuel somewhere else. And for me, that fuel comes from experimenting. From building things. From asking: how can AI actually help people?
Not in the pitch-deck, venture-capital sense. In the real sense. How can it help someone see themselves more clearly? How can it give someone access to a perspective they’d never encounter in their daily life? How can it make the starting line more fair?
That’s the side of AI I want to stay on. The good side. The side that asks “how can I help you?” instead of “how can I extract from you?”
Zooming out
This connects to something I keep coming back to: the Overview Effect. That cognitive shift astronauts describe when they see Earth from space. Borders disappear. Conflicts look absurd. You see one planet, one system, one shared situation.
I think AI experimentation, done with intention, can be a version of that. Not the literal view from space, but the practice of zooming out. Of seeing beyond your own defaults. Of reaching for a perspective that isn’t yours and letting it change how you think.
One more thought
Imagine if recruiters used something like this. Instead of the same templated CV and the same “I’m a team player with 10 years of experience” pitch, what if candidates could present a multi-perspective profile? A richer, more honest picture of who they are and how they think?
It wouldn’t replace experience. But it might finally break the boring formula that serves nobody well.
That’s what I’m building toward with The Overview. Not a product. An exploration. And if any of this resonates, I’d genuinely love to hear your perspective. Because that’s the whole point: I need more than just my own.
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