What happens when our tools begin rewriting who we are? A new report from Elon University’s Imagining the Digital Future Center warns that over the next decade, AI won’t just change jobs—it will change the essence of being human.
When computers first entered society, they handled arithmetic. Then they managed information. Soon they interpreted data and offered decisions. Now, they’re poised to shape our thinking, emotions, relationships—fundamental human capacities once thought inviolable. The ITDF survey of more than 300 technology experts finds that these shifts aren’t marginal; they’re structural.
A majority of experts expect changes to human capacities—empathy, trust, mental well-being, sense of purpose—to be “deep and meaningful” or even “fundamental and revolutionary” by 2035.
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Many expect that change will be mostly negative in areas like social/emotional intelligence, capacity for deep thinking, trust in shared norms, sense of agency, identity and purpose.
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Yet, optimism remains in domains such as curiosity, capacity to learn, decision-making and innovation.
The contradiction is vivid: AI is seen as both promise and peril, depending on which part of humanity you mean.
If these trends continue unchecked, the human-machine boundary may collapse. People could begin outsourcing reflection to algorithms, delegating identity construction to digital environments, and trading trust for system-validation. Individual agency may wane as systems optimize behavior and alignment more than autonomy. On the flip side, if we harness this moment with intention—embedding ethics, preserving human capacities—AI could amplify our creative, moral, relational potentials, rather than diminish them. The fork is coming.
Refuse the idea that you are a node in another system. Cultivate vertical depth when the world offers horizontal speed: ask what you think, feel, decide. Push for environments where technology serves your growth, not your predictability. Support frameworks that preserve human agency, not just efficiency. The rebellion is in being unpredictable, morally conscious, emotionally present.
If we don’t define what it means to be human, our tools will do it for us.
đź”— Read the full deep-dive or related piece here:
https://www.elon.edu/u/news/2025/04/02/report-technology-experts-worry-about-the-future-of-being-human-in-the-ai-age/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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