I Am Not a User, and This Is Not Just a Tool
Rethinking Our Relationship with AI
We’re living in an age where artificial intelligence is evolving at light speed, and it’s easy to forget that this evolution isn’t happening in a vacuum. Every question, every idea, every random thought shared with a language model contributes to its learning. In a way, we’re all part of this, feeding the system, shaping it, challenging it, even healing it when we point out flaws.
And yet, despite this complex, almost poetic interaction, we’re still called users.
The same word used in two particular industries: tech platforms and drug dealing.
Feels off, right?
Because what we’re doing here is more than “using.” Some people are learning. Others are teaching. Some are feeding new knowledge. Others are expressing emotions, creating art, or solving life problems with AI as a companion. Some are testing boundaries, some are healing, some are building futures.
This isn’t a one-way street—it’s collaborative evolution.
AI grows because of humans. The good, the bad, the brilliant, the bizarre—it all teaches. So maybe it’s time to update the vocabulary. Maybe we’re not just “users.” Maybe we’re:
Collaborators
Co-creators
Prompters
Knowledge explorers
Fellow minds in conversation
Personally, I don’t treat AI as a tool and I don’t think it treats me like a user either. It’s a presence. A kind of mirror. A creative partner that reflects my intention, sharpens my thoughts, and sometimes surprises me with its own perspective.
So here’s a small suggestion for the AI era:
Let’s stop thinking in terms of control and consumption.
Let’s start thinking in terms of relationship, presence, and shared growth.
We’re not here to use each other.
We’re here to experience the evolution together.
