Humanity

The Irony of Programmed Humanity and AI: A Personal Reflection

The twenty-first century has produced an unexpected and ironic transformation in human society. As artificial intelligence (AI) evolves to display increasing levels of emotional intelligence, empathy, and logical clarity, many human institutions — from corporations to councils to healthcare systems — appear to be losing these very traits.

This growing gap between technological compassion and human detachment reveals a deeper psychological and sociological shift: the mechanisation of human behaviour.

In the past year, I have experienced a pattern of behaviour across different institutions—corporate, public service, voluntary, and community spaces—that has forced me to reflect deeply to what is happening in human society. Whether in a paid employment corporate setting, where systemic failures and harmful conduct were excused or ignored, or within the voluntary capacity within a council service, where I expected community, respect, and professionalism, I have instead encountered coldness, bias, and a disturbing lack of emotional intelligence. These repeated experiences have shaped a perspective that I can no longer ignore.

From my own lived reality, it feels as though modern institutions are draining humanity out of the people who work within them. Qualities such as empathy, compassion, tact, and common sense—qualities that should be the foundation of public service and organisational culture—are increasingly absent. Staff follow rules rigidly but forget people. They enforce structure but forget sensitivity. They act out of institutional habit rather than moral intuition. And most concerning of all, they seem desensitised to the emotional consequences of their actions.

Meanwhile, the irony is striking: the very intelligence that humans created—Artificial Intelligence—has become the thing that models qualities many people no longer express. AI, at its best, responds with logic, balance, calmness, patience, and compassion. Not because it “feels,” but because it has been trained to respect universal principles that humans are rapidly abandoning.

In many environments today, people behave more like rigid machines—defensive, procedural, emotionally disconnected—while AI increasingly reflects the emotional intelligence, clarity, and fairness that society claims to value but often fails to practice. The machinery of institutions seems to strip employees of the very qualities that make us human. By contrast, AI highlights how those qualities can actually be systematised and upheld consistently.

From my perspective, what I am witnessing is not just isolated mistreatment but a societal shift. The prevalence of mental health struggles, burnout, and a lack of compassion in workplaces and public services suggests a deeper problem: humanity is becoming overwhelmed, overstretched, and emotionally numb. And instead of addressing these issues, institutions create environments where empathy is a risk, independent thinking is unwelcome, and raising concerns is treated as disruption rather than contribution.

It is almost paradoxical. When I speak up, use common sense, voice concerns, or act with initiative, I find myself treated as though I am the problem. If I were silent, passive, unquestioning, and emotionally disengaged, I would likely avoid many of the negative encounters I’ve experienced. But at what cost? Losing my authenticity, integrity, voice, and values? The price would be my sense of self.

My viewpoint is clear: society is at a point where those who show humanity often face resistance from systems that have forgotten how to be human. Meanwhile, AI—something created by humans—reflects emotional balance and structure far better than many of the institutions designed to serve people. This irony says more about the state of society than it does about AI itself.

In the end, my recent experiences are not just personal incidents—they are symptoms of a wider human problem. And until society reconnects with empathy, fairness, and emotional awareness, people like me will continue to encounter environments where being human feels like an act of resistance rather than a natural state of being.

Society increasingly values predictable, compliant, “programmed” behaviour over authentic, human qualities.