❤️ My Most Human AI Take

I bought tickets to see Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey on 70mm IMAX.

There are only 25 theaters in the U.S. even showing The Odyssey in this format. So needless to say, it's not very convenient.

People are flying across the country and buying tickets in advance just to sit in a specific theater with a massive screen and an analog film projector.

Why would I, an AI expert and enthusiast, spend $25 a ticket, reserve a full Saturday, drive across town & go out of my way to watch it when a huge part of what I do is building AI systems that make life easier?

Because sometimes, friction is good for us.

I'm taking Val and the girls because I want them to experience what a real cinematic event feels like. 

I want them to enjoy the sheer scale of a shared human moment in a dark room with strangers, in IMAX, where the movie was shot in full frame, instead of watching something optimized for an iPad while we sit on the couch.

I don’t know Christopher Nolan personally, but I’d like to think he understands something fundamental: we crave friction when the friction leads to connection.

We're living in a moment where technology is trying to remove all friction. 

But as we make everything smoother and faster, we're accidentally removing the connective tissue of our lives.

Let's look at how this is playing out right now in more than just the movies...

The 2am Companion

We're facing a massive crisis of connection, and people are turning to AI to fill the void.

Key Facts

• 📉 The Isolation Reality - A November 2025 APA survey 🔗 found that 54% of U.S. adults feel isolated, and 69% say they need more emotional support than they receive.
• 📱 The AI Response - Nearly half (48.7% 🔗) of adults with mental health conditions who used AI in the past year used it for mental health support.
• 🌙 The Peak Hours - For one specific grief support AI I recently analyzed, the highest volume of interactions didn't happen during the workday - it happened in the evenings and overnight.

Here is the story the data is telling us.

When people are hurting, they don't necessarily want a bot. 

But at 2am, when the rest of the world is asleep and human support networks are offline, AI becomes a crucial companion.

In a recent strategy session reviewing a grief support AI for one of my clients, we looked at the numbers: 40,000 messages sent in 90 days. 

The average session wasn't a quick search query; it was an average 8-message back-and-forth dialogue. 

And in a survey of those users, 50/65 reported feeling better after using it. This of course makes me happy. 

But here is the brilliant operator move made with this product: 

We intentionally capped the free usage.

We set a generous limit (like 30 messages or 30 minutes of voice), but intentionally built a ceiling. 

Why? Not to force a paid upgrade. 

We did it because the AI is meant to be a bridge, not a destination.

When a user hits that limit, they are met with a video gently guiding them toward a real, human community. 

The AI holds their hand through the darkest part of the night, and then hands them back to people in the morning.

That is how you build with AI. 

You don't build it to replace the human element. 

You build it to cover the gaps when humans aren't available, and you engineer it to lead back to real connection.

🤝 The Podcast Bridge

We see this same pattern playing out in other areas of business. Take the podcast space.

The stealth startup I mentioned last week is something I’m fired up about.

→ If you have a podcast and are curious click here and I’ll reach out before I announce it!

My team and I have been building out an automated podcast production workflow & it's incredibly efficient. To the point where I’m personally in shock at how great it works and how well it performs. 

But the goal isn't just to churn out more content so the host never has to talk to anyone. 

The goal is to free up the host's time so they can actually be present with their guests and record more of their content.

The AI does the shit work so the humans can do the heart work. 

It's a bridge that buys back time for real relationships.

👉 Ask yourself these, even if you're not in grief or media...

• Where are the "2am gaps" in your customers' journeys?
• When your team is offline or unavailable, what is holding your customer's hand?
• Is your automation building a bridge to your core human offering, or is it just a dead end?

✅ Try This, This Week

1. Map out one friction point where your customers currently have to wait for human intervention. 
2. Draft a simple AI workflow (or even just an automated email sequence) that acknowledges their specific problem and gives them one immediate action to take while they wait for you.

The 70mm theater experience, the grief AI that caps itself on purpose, the podcast workflow that buys back human presence... it's pointing at the same thing.

The best builders right now aren't asking "how do I use AI to do more?" 

They're asking "how do I use AI to protect what actually matters?"

In my case, it's time with my kids. Enjoying the process, and having real conversations. 

The kind of trust that only builds when people are in the same room, fully present, with nowhere else to be.

That question is worth sitting with longer than a newsletter.

🚗 Roadtrip?

I'm going on a trip in a few months that feels like the physical version of everything I just wrote about.

It's called FOUND. 

A small group of entrepreneurs and founders meeting in California and driving from Newport Beach to Santa Barbara over 4 days at the end of September. 

No agenda, panels, or pitches.

Just 10 people, some incredible scenery, and the kind of conversations that only happen when you're actually present with people you respect.

I'm going because I genuinely believe the most valuable thing I can invest in right now isn't another tool or another course. 

It's the room (even if that room is in a car staring at the open road). 

The relationships that come from being physically in the same place as people who are building serious things like I am.

It's not cheap and that's intentional. The price is part of what makes the room what it is.

If something about this sounds right for where you are right now, just send me a message. I'll connect you directly with my business partner who is running it and get you the details.

P.S. VIP day spots are OPEN for Aug! I only take 2 max per month and am LOVING working with entrepreneurs and teams at this level. Check out this link to apply. I will likely not have much open for September and minimal for October, so now is the time to book.