Hi everyone,
Welcome to the second issue of The Seven Pillars where we focus on doing good while living well.
Every week, I share one deep dive on how to navigate the modern impact-focused lifestyle: mastering new skills, understanding the latest trends in our sector, and being mindful of our money, your family, and ourselves.
Last week, we looked at attitudes toward money and financial planning. This week, we’ll be highlighting something much more fun: Technology.
Are you driving a “Horseless Carriage”?
In the few years since OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT, one thing has become clear: our ability to integrate tech into our lives is hilariously chaotic. This is true for every new innovation, but is especially notable now.
With AI, it’s like we are watching the rollout of the internet in the mid-90s, but on fast-forward. ChatGPT reached 100 million users in two months—the fastest-growing consumer app in history.
But just like the early internet, we are struggling to fit this revolution into our daily reality.
The Horseless Carriage Trap
One of our biggest foibles as humans is the need to frame the new in terms of the old.
When cars first appeared, people didn't know what to think of them. They thought of them as “horseless carriages.” They analogized the new technology to something more familiar. But in doing so, they limited their thinking of what an automobile could do to what a carriage could do.
We are doing the same thing with AI. We are feeling our way through the dark, treating AI like a super-powered search engine or a better autocomplete.
The chaos of thousands of new AI tools makes this worse. It’s hard to know what is useful, what is hype, and what is dangerous.
The 3 Buckets of AI
To cut through the noise and provide a way to think past the horseless carriage mindset, I’ve started categorizing work into three specific buckets:
Totally Human: Work that requires empathy, nuance, and high-stakes judgment (e.g., handling sensitive personal data or running focus groups with beneficiaries).
Totally Automated: Low-level tasks that need speed, not soul (e.g., first-pass CV reviews or generating a content calendar).
The Middle Path: This is where you can find all some amazing potential.
Most people think in binary terms when it comes to AI. They miss the Middle Path.
The middle path is the one that holds the most promise, but it also requires us to be much more creative and imaginative. The Middle Path requires us to rethink AI as a tool and to start thinking about it as a partner. This category requires imagination. It’s not about automation; it’s about augmentation. This is using AI as a professional coach, a personalized mentor, or a tutor to help you master complex software like Stata or PowerBI.
The value you get from this path is perfectly correlated with the amount of imagination you put into it.
The Weekly Challenge
Forget about all the other AI-powered tools out there for a moment and concentrate on whatever you have access to: ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, etc. To help you break out of the Horseless Carriage mindset, I want you to try three specific exercises this week with the tool of your choice.
The Replacement Pick one app you pay for or use regularly and try to replace it entirely with AI.
In my case: I replaced my paid workout app. I asked Google Gemini to create a personalized workout schedule based on my goals. I saved $10/month and got a schedule that adjusts to the unpredictabilities of my life—something a static app couldn't do. Bonus: Gemini was able to connect this to my Google Calendar and post each workout on the specific day it’s to be done with reminders and notes.
The Tutor Pick something you’ve always wanted to learn and make AI your teacher.
In my case: I wanted to get better at Excel macros. Instead of watching YouTube videos or subscribing to a Coursera course, I had the AI assign me specific challenges and walk me through them step-by-step. Don't just ask for answers; ask it to teach you the process.
The Brainstorm Partner Stop asking AI for "output" (write me an introduction for a cover letter) and start asking it for "input" (think through this problem with me).
In my case: I asked AI to help me brainstorm a potential career pivot. I asked it to interview me like an executive coach would. We talked back and forth about skills, geography, and salary. It surfaced entire industries I had never seriously explored.
The Impact Stack
Things I read, used, or loved this week.
📺 Watch: The Best Introduction to Personal Finance I Have Ever Read from Ben Felix. I love Ben Felix’s approach to personal finance and understanding the markets (that is, with lots of data and skepticism). Here’s his take on a great book for building wealth on small incomes.
📚 Read: The Great Aid Recession: 2025’s Humanitarian Crash in Nine Charts from Sam Vigersky at the Council on Foreign Relations. You’ve likely seen some of these charts on your social media accounts. Get the context here.
📚 Read: Abrupt transitions: The Global Humanitarian Overview pushes a dangerous trend from Mike Pearson and Kerrie Holloway
at The New Humanitarian. 2026 just might be the year of balancing “hyper-crises” against “hyper-prioritization” when shrinking aid budgets come up against growing need.
🛠️ Tool:Google Studio AI. I’m sure you’ve used many AI tools, but I’ve spoken to lots of people who haven’t experimented with this one. Open up screen sharing with Studio AI, enable your microphone, and have it live coach you through a software problem.
💬 Quote:
“By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it.” — Eliezer Yudkowsky
One Question For You
I’ve been thinking a lot about my fellow social impact, humanitarian, and development colleagues now unemployed and struggling in a tight labor market.
If this is you, how have you managed to remain engaged and stay positive? I want to hear from you.
Hit reply and let me know. I read every single email.
See you next week,
Anthony Pusatory
Founder, The Seven Pillars