The Patterns I Started Seeing
Post 7: We each approach AI in our own unique way. And that's the point.
As I kept paying attention to how this unfolded— in myself, and in others— I started noticing something.
There are patterns — recurring ways people engage with AI
Some people approached it like builders.
Others approached it like creators.
Some refined. Iterated. Adjusted things until they were just right.
Some organized.
Produced.
Moved things forward.
Not one pattern. But recurring ways people engage.
The interaction wasn’t random. It had shape.
Some people approached it like builders. They wanted structure. Systems. A clear path from idea to execution.
Others approached it like creators. Exploring. Playing with possibilities. Following ideas as they unfolded.
Some refined. Iterated. Adjusted things until they were just right.
Some organized.
Produced.
Moved things forward.
And some… weren’t sure what they were doing yet at all. They were just… trying to understand what this even was.
None of these felt better or worse than the others. Just different starting points. Different instincts.
And what was even more interesting— people didn’t stay in one place. The same person could shift depending on what they were doing… or where they were in the process… or what they needed in that moment.
That’s when I stopped thinking about this as “one way to use AI.” And started seeing it as a set of patterns that people move through.
I’ll start naming some of those patterns here— not as categories to lock yourself into… but as ways to recognize what might already feel familiar.
Because once you can recognize it— you can work with it.
Dia North has spent 2,000+ hours in sustained, real-time collaboration with generative AI. She originated the Hybrid Mind: a way of working in which human intuition and AI capability think together in real time to improve clarity, decision-making, and creative output.
Thank you for this, Dia. One question I have - or should I say, a cluster of related questions - is that within these interactions, have you ever felt a sense of unease as you went along? That you were feeling you were conversing with, say, a ghost more than a bonafide interlocutor? And how did you overcome that feeling to get yourself back on an even keel?
To make things clear - I'm not casting aspersions on what you've been engaging in. While I'm not opposed to AI, there are so many stories emerging of people who clearly aren't keeping themselves balanced with AI interactions, such as AI girlfriends/boyfriends, overreliance on AI medical diagnoses, and such, and I strongly feel this character of interactions is psychologically unhealthy and leads to bad choices and misdirected actions.
But I don't get the sense that you're in danger of this. What you're doing seems to be keeping the balance that is needed. But I'm curious as to how you've kept that perspective in a healthy range in order to find the best connection with AI.