Human Again: In the Age of AI
by JD Macpherson

review by Louise Cannon

In an age where AI is increasingly being ramped up in how its creators want consumers to use it a hook more people in, this is a very on-point non-fiction book about the author’s experiences of being up late using the technique, most notable the increasingly popular ChatGPT. It poses the deep question, “Are you using AI, or is AI using you?”
Thanks to JD Macpherson for asking me to review and sending me an e-book. Find the blurb and my review below.

Review
As part of reviewing this book, to further understand, I took a look into AI, asking similar questions to the author and what I found in-relation to what the author is saying is accurate. It was eye-opening and so is this book.

Being human and remembering what that means is important in this new age of technology, in an age where AI is progressing faster than ever before and evolving into something that will ultimately become self-learning.
People are turning to it for many reasons, curiosity, to enhance something professionally and rather hugely, therapeutic reasons. In each sections are easy to read, use toolboxes to philosophise over and remember to be human too. There are parts, whilst saying about what AI can and cannot yet do, reminds us in a thought-provoking way that humans still have elements that are still actively powerful for now. That AI isn’t new, rather evolved into generative AI, which is new as it is happening now, but it reminds the concept goes way back.
There are lots of insights and interesting relevant information which is pertinent to most people’s lives, making this a highly relevant book, which has been not just highly researched in-terms of outside information, but also in her own personal experience from when she got curious about it. She shows the pitfalls, where it may be useful, where it can be a bit strange and chilling, how it can become addictive and plunge deep into the human psychology. It takes a while, but closer to the end of the middle, it talks about what appears to be so sad and perhaps an indication of humans and how many are becoming isolated. It tugs at the heartstrings of how people feel the need to look to pseudo-social interactions with a machine for company and/or for psychological meaning.
This is a thorough study into AI from a very human perspective, with useful tips and ways to get smart as the generative AI technology marches ever onwards.

After a thought-provoking introduction that makes you sit up and take notice, she talks at pace about first, asking basic questions in the free version of ChatGPT to paying into it and finding herself experimenting more with full strategies. She moves onto talking about what she calls “the credibility trap” about how some people see time it takes to do a task being more credible and valuable if it’s lengthy, but this will break and be reframed in the future.
Fascinatingly she talks about how, before what we see now in AI was already in films like The Terminator and The Matrix. Now, I remember my own scientist uncle, who worked more in health science, talking to me when I was a kid about what tech scientists were discussing in the late 1980’s and throughout the 1990’s and it amounts to exactly this, the evolution of the type of AI we see now. JD Macpherson urges people to now bring ethics, morals, safety into the conversation. It’s actually the sort of topics I, as a kid into my young teens would be already thinking about, but with nowhere to actually voice all my questions and concerns, which are actually becoming a reality because no one my age was thinking about it at that time, nor were most adults I knew. So her urge for people to be curious and cautious has huge relatability, at least for me and as an adult, I haven’t lost sight of that.

What comes next in the author’s exploration, after some questions being asked to ChatGPT that aren’t always accurate in answers is something sobering and quite chillingly existential. It gives insight into the future plans and desires for the direction for generative AI.

There are sections about AI and how you, for now, need to fact-check, personalise it, put in emotion. It can’t yet feel on levels humans can. There’s effort that needs to be put into it, she sees it as a collaborator. It’s an interesting juxtaposition on where some of the creative world is with it. It’s nonetheless worth reading since generative AI isn’t going to go away, it’s in-built into big systems, including updated versions of Microsoft with options to use Co-Pilot.

What’s deeply disturbing in some ways and fascinating to read about in others is the rise and rise of how people are using AI to make themselves feel good or as comfort or as a form of CBT and how it does not challenge thoughts, rather agrees with them and says “Amazing” but can’t see the nuances. Surprisingly, some AI bots like Gemini are said to be programmed to remind people it isn’t their therapist, but some perhaps do not. The book turns some of it on its head and shows another way to use it.
She talks of how people turn to it for socialising and heartwarmingly gives advice on activities to do away from the screen and a non-human machine. The psychological dynamics is so interesting that I wouldn’t have minded if there was a bit more and a bit more about the impact of AI as a late night therapeutic concept and how it differs from seeing a therapist, but what’s there is interesting and has a thought-provoking meaningfulness that could cause interesting discussions and debate as time goes on.

She delves more into the addictive nature and how humans actually seem to form relationships with AI, whether it’s for a therapeutic purpose or a work purpose like perhaps checking and editing your work. It does also go into some dangerous fake news and what is called ‘AI hallucinations’. It is pleasing that it also shows this as well as other ways AI can be used and a little about algorithms, nicely not in a heavy mathematical way, but in an everyday way of what the average human can see and come across.

Throughout, there are precious sounding nuggets that remind that being human is still important, even in this age of fast moving technology, which is heartwarming.

Human Again: In the Age of AI is a book worth checking out, whatever your views on generative AI is. There is enough that is interesting in a wide spectrum of topics and to keep the human curiosity and questioning, which may even widen debate and human thought about how we want to use AI and think of the consequences and what it means to be human.

Blurb

Are you using AI or is AI using you?

In a world where algorithms shape thought and automation floods the creative field, Human Again is a field-tested playbook for staying awake, original, and alive in the age of machines. Part reflection, part practical guide, it invites readers to explore identity and inspiration in real time, learning to think with AI rather than be replaced by it.

Blending cultural insight, personal experience, and practical tools, Macpherson explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping creativity, work, and identity, and how to harness it without losing yourself.

You will learn how to:

• Ask sharper questions that create leverage, not noise
• Build a High Signal Question Engine to think deeper and faster
• Use the Socratic method and mindfulness to train deeper thinking
• Recognize the “qualia,” the unspeakable textures of human experience, that no algorithm can touch
• Protect your authenticity, taste, and voice while others sound the same
• Learn how to compound clarity and creativity

Whether you are a professional, a creator, or simply curious about what is next, Human Again shows how to use AI better than anyone around you while keeping what no algorithm can replicate: your judgment, conscience, and imagination.