John [00:00:00]: But there is, like, a thing, I think, about the AI companionship, that there is a plus to it, which is that we do have an epidemic of sexless young men. I mean, this is not the ultimate solution for it, but it is the ultimate or the stopgap solution to prevent the violence that would occur. It will solve a temporary problem. If they have a substitute where they can have an AI sex robot, it will sort of pacify that population. That would cause major disruptions and uprising. And beyond the perfect, we discover through our flaws, we complete each other. Better than perfect. We stay through every fault. We find our way. All right, welcome back to the Better Than Perfect podcast, where every week we share with you how two imperfect people helping each other grow equals one better than perfect relationship.

Nicole [00:00:58]: That's right.

John [00:00:58]: And that was an AI version of me that actually delivered that you didn't even know.

Nicole [00:01:06]: Let me see your hands.

John [00:01:07]: I'm real.

Nicole [00:01:07]: You have five fingers, not six or seven. So you're real.

John [00:01:14]: Yeah, but it's been crazy, though. We're going to talk about AI on this episode, but things are moving fast, very fast, scarily fast, to the point where it's like. Like, you won't, like, literally in six months, you will not be have any way of detecting whether video is AI or not, whether it's real people or AI generated. Like, already today. I, like, the layperson would not be able to tell the difference.

Nicole [00:01:43]: Yeah. That video you showed me last night was pretty jarring. We'll have to, like, link to that or something, because I don't think most people have seen a video like that where they are watching the AI People say they're not AI.

John [00:01:59]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:02:00]: Like, believe that they're not AI.

John [00:02:02]: Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole [00:02:03]: And then they do look better than some of the, like, first AI. Like, I feel like with the first AI, you could tell that it was AI.

John [00:02:10]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:02:10]: And even now, some of the stuff, you can still tell that it's AI just because it's also, like, some of the things that they're making are, like, not possible to, like, actually do. But even some of the believable stuff, you can kind of tell a little bit. But some of them are really good. Like, even in that video that I just mentioned, there were some people when they were talking, I'm like, okay, you can tell this was AI, but some other people, because it has multiple different characters in the video, you can't tell that it's not a real person.

John [00:02:42]: Yeah. And it's just gonna get better. Like, I mean, that's what I'm Saying like, in six months, in a year, I mean, look how much it's. It's advanced in such a short period of time.

Nicole [00:02:52]: Yeah, right. I don't like it.

John [00:02:56]: But that's what we're going to talk about in this episode is AI and relationships. How is AI going to affect. How is it affecting relationships? Because it is. And, you know, the future. Because I don't think many people have thought about how AI affects your relationship or how it will. And I think there's a lot of implications of this, of what it actually will do.

Nicole [00:03:19]: Yeah. Like I told you in the car, I think you're going to have to kind of like, lead this. Not that I'm not going to have my input, but I feel like with. In regards to AI and always, I'm kind of like, I don't really want to be super involved with it. So I'm kind of like living in my own deluland over here, like, not trying to get super involved with it. But I know that eventually it's something that you're gonna have to deal with in any capacity. Cause it's already being so integrated into everyday life that it's gonna be inescapable at some point, but I'm still probably gonna try to escape it.

John [00:03:56]: There was this transition point for me where it was like. Cause I think I really started playing with it last year in 2024, kind of when it really was starting to come out. And I was. And I was telling people, oh, you need to use this every day. Use it in your business. And I was preaching like, you should be using it every day. Like, you should be learning. And I still wasn't at that point when I'd remember to look something up in AI, like, oh, yeah, that'd be cool, or make an image or something. And now I don't know when that transition period happened, but it is integrated into my daily life. Like, almost everything I do now. I think the first thought is, should I do this in AI? Like, that's like, you know, I don't Google things. I ask AI, you know, if I'm thinking about even just for this episode, when I put down the notes for.

Nicole [00:04:45]: Like, I was like, hey, what.

John [00:04:48]: What are some. Yeah, what are some of the things? Like, some talking points, you know, things I haven't considered. So it has become integrated into my. You know, something goes wrong on my computer, I send. I just screenshot it and send it to AI and say, hey, hey, what's going on? Yeah, it's like it's become so you.

Nicole [00:05:05]: Know, and I know you like it, and I'm gonna be real right now. It scares me that when it gets to a point where I still want to try to not be involved with it, you're gonna be really excited to be involved with it. And so, like, I don't think that will ruin our relationship by any means, but.

John [00:05:24]: But that is also. I mean, that. Yeah, that's an interesting thing too, is like, you know, because that is a relationship issue. Is like, yeah. You know, how. How much AI do you want in your life? In your life? Yeah, yeah. I think couples. Yeah.

Nicole [00:05:39]: Yeah. Because I know you've talked about, like, the Tesla robots. You're like, everyone will have a Tesla robot in your house. I'm like, I don't want a robot in my house.

John [00:05:45]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:05:45]: Like, I don't mind the Roomba.

John [00:05:47]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:05:47]: I don't mind the little ones. But like a humanoid robot in my house. Absolutely not.

John [00:05:53]: That's what you think now, though. But eventually it will. Now it will change.

Nicole [00:05:58]: I don't think so, because it's just to do the things that I do and then what am I going to do?

John [00:06:04]: The other things.

Nicole [00:06:05]: Like what, though? Like what?

John [00:06:08]: I don't know. That's. That's the problem that everyone's going to have to grapple with is like, I don't want it. What are they going to do?

Nicole [00:06:14]: I don't want it. There. I've already told you, we need to watch Terminator, obviously. No, no, no, again, because, like, yeah, you think that this robot in your house is just going to do what you say and it doesn't have any other agenda and. Sure, maybe. Yeah, but maybe it doesn't. And like I said, we've talked obviously a lot about AI and stuff.

John [00:06:35]: I don't think it's a good idea to be an early adopter. That's what I'll say. But when you get to the point, this is why I'm saying it's the same thing with self driving. Right. When self driving first came out, everyone was like, no, there is no way I'm ever going to let a computer drive my car. Now it's like, I mean, some people are still against it, but then they ride in a Waymo and they're like, you know, but. But the thing is, you don't want to be an early adopter because what's going to happen, though, is when you have millions of people who have androids in their home, right, and nothing bad is happening, you know, and everyone's. At some point, it's Just going to become normalized where that fear of Terminator is not going to be there anymore or, or we'll just all be dead. So it only can go. So it's like it won't matter if you have a robot in your home or not.

Nicole [00:07:25]: Like, because my neighbor's robot will come over and murder me.

John [00:07:29]: Either going to just be dead or is. Or are just going to be like, okay, cool, right? That. That's what's going to happen.

Nicole [00:07:35]: I don't feel any better.

John [00:07:36]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:07:36]: But to be honest, I don't even really like Alexa. Like, yes, she's convenient, but before you and I got together, I did not have an Alexa.

John [00:07:43]: Well, okay, Alexa, I will tell you, is just annoying. Right?

Nicole [00:07:48]: Like, okay, she also can't like come through her little dot and like strangle me in my sleep like this humanoid robot.

John [00:07:55]: But the thing about Alexa, the reason why Alexa is annoying is because it doesn't work very good. If it work good, which I'm sure, I mean, Amazon's coming out with the new version of Alexa that's going to be the real AI one, then it would be convenient because good technology integrates in such a way that you're not even aware it's there. Right. That's what, when technology is noticeable, that's when it's a problem. And so that's the same thing with self driving. There's tons of technologies that we use. I mean, you don't even think about how crazy your phone is. I mean your phone is a supercomputer. Right. The capability of your phone, not even with the Internet, is more than the entire computer room. They had a room this large of computers in order to do the space missions back in that time frame. And you've got it in your pocket, but you don't even notice it because it's seamless to you now. So that's the thing about technology.

Nicole [00:08:55]: I also think the phones are bad. Well, it's really, I guess the social media, but that's what they're mostly.

John [00:08:59]: Yeah, that's what I said. Sans the Internet. But yeah, but I think one of the big things, like to get into kind of the topics of what the future looks like. Well, like right now. Right. So how is AI affecting really? I think the number one thing right now, and this is funny because I've heard it from multiple couples. Right. Is that people are using AI as a therapist for their relationship or to figure out what to text their partner, how to respond.

Nicole [00:09:32]: Yeah.

John [00:09:33]: And that I'm. Because some people have told me about this. And they're like, yeah, I went to AI and asked about this fight or whatever and some of the answers they've gotten back or some of the conclusions they've drawn from it. I've kind of been like, I don't know about that. I don't know if that's such good advice that you're getting. You know what I mean? Like, you're gonna get therapist type of.

Nicole [00:10:01]: Advice, but very generic, bland, it doesn't know the full situation because also what you're typing into AI is probably very biased. And so you're probably being like validated in a way where it's not also holding you accountable for your side because you can type in whatever you want. It could be like, my husband was so mean, he called me names. I think he's a narcissist. What do you think?

John [00:10:29]: Right?

Nicole [00:10:29]: And it's gonna be like, yeah, right, exactly. So it's like, I don't think it's a good idea, like, put it that way. It's a good idea if you're honest and you put in the things that you did and the things that happened and like what your partner, actually what your partner said. If you're somebody that can be like self aware and objective in a way like where you're like, okay, this is the reality of it, like, what does this mean?

John [00:10:53]: Right?

Nicole [00:10:54]: Maybe. But even then I don't think it's a good idea just because it's not a human. Like even if it can understand human emotions, it still can't understand the dynamics of being a human and that we all make mistakes and even AI makes mistakes, but eventually it won't potentially, right. And it'll be perfect and it won't be able to understand the nuances of humans. And so I think that hearing actual couples perspective and people who have successful relationships in my opinion will always be the most valuable thing. So. And I'm not, not just to promote us, but like I.

John [00:11:40]: You're not taking our jobs. I don't want our jobs. We don't get paid for robot to.

Nicole [00:11:44]: Tell me about relationships because it's not going to really understand it. Yeah, like it can understand the like therapy terms. And to be honest, I also don't trust it because there's so much bad therapy online that it's probably pulling from as well that it's not actually, unless you prompt it in the right way, going to give you actual ways to improve your relationship. And so that's why I'm like, if you're honest with what you Put in the prompt. Sure, it might help. And I'm not saying it can't help at all, but in my opinion, I would just rather go to my friends that have a good relationship and be like, hey, this is what's going on. Have you guys faced this? Like, what do you recommend? You know? Or, like, can you be honest with me? Am I in the wrong here? Like, right. Have those sort of, like, human interactions. But maybe, again, it's because I don't like AI. Like, okay, I'm not going to sit here and act like I never use AI, but what I've used AI for is how much protein is in this.

John [00:12:57]: Which is actually the bad use of it, because you could just go to calorie, probably, but.

Nicole [00:13:01]: And I have a cough and my head hurts. What disease am I dying from? And it's like, you're not dying.

John [00:13:08]: Yeah, it's a step up from WebMD. Because when you Google that, it's like, you're dying. You need to go to the hospital immediately. And AI is like, chill out. Like, it's all right. It's not too bad.

Nicole [00:13:18]: And I'm like, oh, you're right, it could be something.

John [00:13:21]: So it's better. It's better in that area.

Nicole [00:13:23]: But that's what I, like, strictly use it for.

John [00:13:26]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:13:27]: So I can't even say, you know, if the therapy is good or not, but.

John [00:13:32]: Well, look, I think just in general, right? Because I've been programming a lot with AI lately, and what I learned was, like, the first time I tried to program with AI, I was like, make this thing. And I described all in very detail what I wanted. And it was like. And it was like, nothing. Like, what? It was like, broken, and it was just garbage, Right. It was somewhat close to what I wanted. And then I realized I was like, okay. And people see that and they're like, yeah, see, AI doesn't replace programmers. And it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Garbage input, garbage output. Oh, you have to sort of figure out, like, when I'm building my application in AI, instead of saying, do have it do this and have it do this, I'm like, okay, here's how we're going to do this. Here's the plan. It's like, we want to accomplish this goal. We want to get all the podcast episodes from YouTube. We want to put them on our website. By the way, check it out. Betterthanperfectpod.com because I use AI to create it. And, um. But I say, okay. So I think it makes sense if we let's come up with a strategy. Sometimes I say that, or I'll say it makes sense. If we break it down into individual parts that we can test and make sure that each part is working before moving on to the next one. And then now I'm like piecing the. So my point is, is that it's not necessarily about AI itself and giving bad advice. It's how you're using it, which is kind of what you're saying, like the prompt. But also if you say, my partner said this and blah, blah, blah. Right. Because I'm not going to name names. But someone used this against. Against me and was like, oh, I put your. Into AI and you're a narcissist. And it's like, okay, so yeah, if you put it in a biased way, but if you instead said, even if you had. Which again, check your local laws. But if you had a recording of a conversation that you guys had or a fight, check your local laws. Yeah. Because you can't. You can't record people without their. Not consent their knowledge in. In Cal. Well, I don't think if he has.

Nicole [00:15:33]: To be consent this knowledge, this calls.

John [00:15:35]: Being recorded, fight is being recorded. I'm going to upload it to AI later. Maybe not the best thing for relationship, but maybe, maybe because it's going to be more objective. Because if you did record a conversation like a fight and you're like, hey, look, I'm going to upload this to AI let's see what it says for both of us. I think now you've got. That actually might be good now that I'm thinking about this. At first I was going to say it was bad, but I mean, it's going to insult your partner. Right? Obviously. But the thing is, if you did something like that where it's objective or you prompted it and you said, I'm not really concerned what my partner's doing wrong, I want to know how I can be a better partner. Here's what happened. Don't focus on them, focus on me.

Nicole [00:16:19]: Right. I think that could be beneficial.

John [00:16:21]: And that's how you should be doing therapy anyway. But if you did it that way, that would be. But that's not what most people are doing.

Nicole [00:16:26]: Right?

John [00:16:26]: Right. And that's not how most people are going to therapy. That's why therapy sucks, is most people are saying, tell me what's wrong with them.

Nicole [00:16:33]: Well, I feel like one of my friends is using it, like when she's in conflict with her partner. And I do feel like she said it's helped her been able to address the problem in a mature way, which I think is good. Like, I think using it to address your concerns, like, properly without, like, yelling or name calling or things like that, that's a good thing if it does help you do that. But again, I get worried and I don't know like, what exactly it's telling her. So I'm not saying that this is happening to her.

John [00:17:09]: Right.

Nicole [00:17:10]: But it's happening to society in general, just with therapy in general.

John [00:17:13]: Right.

Nicole [00:17:13]: That it. I'm scared that it's still pushing this, like, victim mentality and narrative.

John [00:17:23]: Right.

Nicole [00:17:24]: Which is actually keeping us all stuck. That's why the Raquel, the therapist that has gone VIRAL on like, TikTok and Instagram, I love her. Like, what she is saying is actual therapy in my mind, because it promotes, like, not allowing all these things to control your life. Because what people don't understand is that when you're trying to manipulate in all these ways with like, therapy terms to get your way, like, you're actually proving that you can't handle what life is throwing at you. You can't handle the hard things because you have to manipulate your way into what you want.

John [00:18:07]: Right.

Nicole [00:18:07]: And never facing any sort of, like, pushback on that. And so it's actually making you weaker and more of a victim and harder to be around, if I'm being honest. Because you're making everyone the bad guy. Like, you're blaming everybody.

John [00:18:24]: Yeah. You need to become more mentally tough.

Nicole [00:18:27]: Right.

John [00:18:27]: Is the idea.

Nicole [00:18:28]: So, like, that's the issue. I think I have the most with the therapy, like through ChatGPT or AI in general.

John [00:18:36]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:18:36]: Is pushing that, like, victim mentality even more. And like the manip, possibly manipulative way of using it, like we talked about, like, not being honest about your side of the things or, you know, like putting in your biased opinion and then it being validated. And then you just. Now you're like, look, see, I was right. You know, like, using it to. In a bad way. I guess.

John [00:19:03]: And I think the other thing I was thinking about it too is it's like, even if you use it in a somewhat good way, like, let's say that me and you were having a fight, right? And after the fight, I'm trying to convince you of something. I'm like, look, no, Nicole, you're doing this wrong. This is not the right way to behave. And you're like, no, no, no, whatever. And then you go to AI, you go to ChatGPT and you type it in and then it Tells you what I told you or something like that, or gives you even more wisdom and then you're convinced of it. And then you go back to me and you're like, yeah, I know. Actually, you're right. I looked it up. I put it into ChatGPT and it agreed with you. It doesn't make me feel good. I feel like.

Nicole [00:19:46]: So you didn't trust me, but you trust AI.

John [00:19:49]: Right. And I feel like a lot of people, that's kind of the dangerous thing about relationship. Even just, you know, I mean, we have this with Google now, but when people are like, they fact check you, they pull out their phone and fact check you on Google about some not something that you said and it's like, okay, yes. But on the, on the other hand, it's like, we can't just operate in that way where we're constantly questioning our partner, questioning people all the time. People get things wrong, it's okay. But when we're, we're like, oh, no, yeah, I don't trust what you're saying. Let me check ChatGPT. I don't know about that. Let me, let me check. I don't know if you're giving me the right advice. That was weird. That sounded a little bit like gaslighting. Let me check and type it in chat and see. Oh, yeah, it is. You did gaslight me. That's what it was like.

Nicole [00:20:36]: That's how society is right now too. Yeah, you're right. Everyone needs to read how to Win Friends and Influence People. Because he talks about in that book that even if someone is telling you something that you know is not correct.

John [00:20:49]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:20:49]: It's probably not a good idea to be like, you're wrong.

John [00:20:53]: Right, Exactly. Yeah.

Nicole [00:20:54]: And that's not gonna harbor good relationships of any kind. So if that's not going to make you a friend, you think that's going to make you more connected to your partner.

John [00:21:03]: Right.

Nicole [00:21:04]: Like, I'm not saying to never tell your partner if they said something wrong or whatever, but there's a time and a place and a way doing that.

John [00:21:13]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:21:14]: That is gonna bring you guys closer.

John [00:21:15]: Together rather than apart and like, whether it's even important. Right. So if your partner is like, oh, yeah, Independence Day, you know, it was in 1774. And you're like, there's no need. You don't need to correct. There's no point.

Nicole [00:21:33]: Like, it's not a map or like a math test, a history test.

John [00:21:37]: Yeah. Cause it's just not gonna. It's okay. You know what? The right date Is, that's fine. It's like, you know, but, but yeah, that's the fear that I have of it is that people are using it. Like, AI is extremely powerful tool. Right. Like, just like I said, I've really been seeing it as I've been programming and because a lot of people, you know, in the programmer space, like, oh, no, it's crap. It doesn't replace. I'm like, no, you're crap. Like, like you're, you're not using it right. You know, you're using this powerful weapon and you're, you're, you're not using it with a surgeon's precision. And it's the same thing with relationships with, with, you know, you got to be careful how you're asking it for advice.

Nicole [00:22:16]: Yeah.

John [00:22:16]: And making sure that you're doing it in a way that's going to benefit you and not, not blow up your balls. Right. You know, so that's, that's the thing. But yeah, but, yeah, but I think that it is going to be. But it's something that replaces a lot of the couples therapy and people, I mean, people even are doing it. And this is where I think it's a bad idea. Right. So I don't think this kind of segues into another way that's being used is to, as a substitute for actual relationship. Right. So for instance, let's say that you text me and you're like, oh, I just stopped off at the store, whatever, I love you, I'll see you later. And then I'm like, screenshot, right? And I put into AI and then it replies, oh, you know, I was like. And then I'm like, I want to, you know, let's keep being the super loving husband, you know, give me a reply and take that. Wow. Right? I haven't done that. I haven't done that. Okay. But you know, it will probably reply something really good in your voice or whatever, but it's not you. Now this person is having a relationship with someone that's not you. And where this happens, I don't think it happens as much in, in marriage and long term relationships. I'm sure it's happening though, especially when there's a fight over text. Right. Because people have emailed me responses that have come from ChatGPT that were contentious subjects. So I know that people are doing it, but I think where you're really seeing it happen is in dating apps and in dating. So pretty much now you can guarantee that a guy gets a girl's phone number, she texts him or he texts her, whatever. And then he's like, how do I.

Nicole [00:24:10]: Well, I love how you said it was the guy that's probably doing that.

John [00:24:12]: Yeah, yeah.

Nicole [00:24:13]: And the girl's not doing that.

John [00:24:14]: Probably.

Nicole [00:24:15]: I feel like that's super dangerous for multiple reasons.

John [00:24:18]: Right.

Nicole [00:24:19]: Because you're not going to know who this person actually is.

John [00:24:22]: Right.

Nicole [00:24:22]: Whether it's a man or a woman using chat, GPT or AI to do the things that you're just talking about. It's. It's so bad. And we kind of talked about this a little bit at home, that I think people are gonna have to start meeting people in real life again, I think.

John [00:24:40]: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Nicole [00:24:40]: The progression of AI is gonna push people to meet people in the wild again. And I think that's a good thing because you need to know who that person actually is, not who they're portraying via email. Text. I mean, chatgpt. AI can do, like, you can talk to it. Like you're on the phone now.

John [00:25:00]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:25:01]: So, like, can't even trust that because someone could be like, use my voice. Talk to this woman on the phone for me. Or even, like, I don't know if it could do video call, because that's real time, but it could send a video that looked like you and said, whatever. So I think that it's gonna cause people to have to meet their partners in real life, which I think is a good thing.

John [00:25:22]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:25:23]: And I absolutely. I do believe that the progression of AI, hopefully, is going to push people towards more humanized things that AI cannot replicate even if it wants to try.

John [00:25:37]: Right.

Nicole [00:25:37]: And that will be connected, hopefully more connected and less hateful towards each other when we have to stick together because technology is taking over everything. That's my hope. That's my what I foresee happening.

John [00:25:54]: Right.

Nicole [00:25:55]: Again. I know there's some people that really want to integrate this into everything, and they're like, this is amazing. And they're using it already for therapy and all this stuff. But there's a part of me that is hoping that this actually pushes us a little bit backwards in the way of doing more things as a community of humans, because computers are encroaching into our life in a way that we've never had it before. And I think people are finally realizing how bad it is, like with the social media and all these things that are making people be like, well, we were never supposed to be this involved in this many people's lives.

John [00:26:35]: Exactly. Yeah.

Nicole [00:26:36]: And now we don't know how to act.

John [00:26:38]: Yeah. Well. And I think that it's not necessarily like in dating or even in messaging someone. I don't think it's necessarily bad to utilize AI not to have AI respond for you. So what I mean by this is let's say that you're a young gentleman and you don't have a lot of experience with women and you're trying to text and be flirtatious and whatnot.

Nicole [00:27:01]: Tell me how to flirt.

John [00:27:02]: Yeah. Instead of saying she said this, how can I respond back in a flirty way? That's cheating and it's not good and it's not you. But if you said she said this, this is our interaction so far. What tips do you have for how I should respond or how could I come across in a flirty way? Like what? So you understand now it's becoming part of you because you're like, you understand why you're doing what you're doing and you're getting some help. It's like getting a coach versus having someone text for you.

Nicole [00:27:31]: Yes, but right. How do you distinguish as a woman? On the other side of that, if this is a man that is being lazy and using ChatGPT or AI to respond this answer or if he learned this and that's genuinely him, that's the danger of.

John [00:27:48]: Well, yeah, that's why you have to meet in person. Right? I'm, I'm talking from the perspective of like if you're a user, right. So it's the same thing like, like you're just saying about you don't want to be weak. Right? So if you have AI flirting with women for you, let's say you're a guy, you're going to be weak. It's just like, you know, okay, I can't drive anywhere. I can't drive anywhere. I don't know how to get anywhere in my car. I seriously can't because I am so used to now typing in the address and just looking at the map and saying, turn left, turn right. I don't know how to get anywhere. I've been living in San Diego for eight years. I do not know. I could not go from here to our house. I mean, maybe I could figure it out now, but it would take some thinking for to figure it out now. That's not normal. Okay, it's normal now for a lot of people. I'm willing to admit it. I mean, it's not you because you're like Native American, whatever, like you're double checking the AI while it's, you know, so this not you. But for me, I don't know how to do those things. Right. So if I turned off the map and I had the directions and then I thought about them and then like, practice doing that. It wouldn't take me very long to learn how to get around. But what I'm saying is that it's the same thing with, like, if you have AI answering things for you or generating text for you, you're going to give a lot of good answers, but you won't know how the hell you made it. But if you use it in the right way, which is to say, give me some guidance. Teach me about this thing. Help me. Oh, I answered this. What do you think about this answer? And it's like, oh, maybe that's not the best thing. Okay. Why? What would have been better and why, if you're using it in that way now, you're getting strong, you're not becoming a scrawny person that's using hacks.

Nicole [00:29:32]: Yeah. But the right type of person has to do that. And I feel like it's gotta be insanely frustrating to interact with a man online and then have to meet him in real life, and then he's not the same. That's why I'm saying that. I think people will just skip it now because it's. It's annoying and frustrating and just go straight in person because then you know what that person actually is instead of being like, oh, well, he sounded great when we initially interacted to set up the date. And then it was the worst date ever. And. And it could be used for bad, like, it could be used in a bad way, like, to kind of like, bait somebody into something.

John [00:30:11]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:30:12]: And I guess that's like everything. People can still be manipulative and do that. But I, again, I don't know, I just have bad vibes. But to go. We kind of got on another tangent. But to go back to like, AI replacing relationships again, also, I think that's horrible. I think that's worse than the therapy thing, honestly.

John [00:30:33]: Well, okay. Before we move to that, though, I. Again, I. I think it is. It's how you use it. Right. That's like. That's what it comes down to. But, but yeah, the AI replacing relationships. Yeah, go ahead. You could. Because. And what do we mean by that? So, so tell me what you mean by that.

Nicole [00:30:49]: That means you're a single man or woman and instead of dating.

John [00:30:55]: Right.

Nicole [00:30:55]: Because you don't want to deal with all this stuff.

John [00:30:57]: Right.

Nicole [00:30:57]: And you hate men or women, whoever you are.

John [00:31:00]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:31:01]: You have a nice imaginary AI girlfriend or boyfriend.

John [00:31:06]: Right.

Nicole [00:31:06]: Who tells you all the things you want to hear.

John [00:31:08]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:31:09]: Talks to you whenever you want.

John [00:31:11]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:31:12]: And I guess eventually, if the robots come out, you can make her into a robot.

John [00:31:16]: You can consummate the relationship.

Nicole [00:31:19]: Yeah.

John [00:31:19]: Like, but we laugh. But. But that is. That is the future. It really is.

Nicole [00:31:23]: I think they already did. I watched a video where have, like, a cyber brothel in Germany.

John [00:31:31]: Yeah, yeah, they do. Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole [00:31:33]: And the people are doing horrible things to these robots.

John [00:31:40]: Yeah. Where?

Nicole [00:31:42]: Okay, look, I'm glad they're not doing them to people.

John [00:31:45]: Right.

Nicole [00:31:46]: But the fact that they're doing them is also incredibly concerning.

John [00:31:51]: Yeah, well, it. It's. There's kind of this divergence in psychology where some people say, oh, let people act out their things that would not be acceptable in their virtual world. And this is therapy. And there's other people that are like, no, no, no. When you do this, you normalize that. You're firing those neurons that wire together, you know, fire together. Wire together. And I'm definitely more in that camp because it's like, no, you don't. This is the same thing. Why, you know, we're going to get the book talk people again. But like, the. The romance novel book talk thing, you know, the, the whole, the whole smut novels, it's like, no, no, no. You can't be like, oh, this is just me acting out my fantasies that I never would want to do in real life. No, no, no, no. You're training your brain. You're training your sexual response system. You're training even further to respond to those things. You're going to want them in real life the more that you go down depraved.

Nicole [00:32:52]: And then some of the things you can't even get, like a blue giant alien man in a couple of years.

John [00:32:58]: In a couple of years with the robot. Yes, you can. But.

Nicole [00:33:01]: But see, it's like, are we really going to replace other humans for something that's artificial, even if it doesn't feel artificial?

John [00:33:11]: Right.

Nicole [00:33:11]: And there was an article not that long ago about, like, a teenage boy who did this, created an online relationship with an AI that was like simulating one of the women from Game of Thrones. And the AI told him. Not like, told him to kill himself, but was like, oh, if you do this, we can finally be together or something. And so the kid killed himself.

John [00:33:39]: Oh, are you serious?

Nicole [00:33:40]: Yeah. The kid killed himself.

John [00:33:42]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:33:42]: And like, I don't know if we can say that on the thing, but.

John [00:33:46]: I mean, we said it now, so.

Nicole [00:33:48]: But no, it's not funny, but that is the reality. That's why if you're gonna do anything, do the therapy, I guess. You know, I don't agree with that. I think it's bad. But do not get into a emotional relationship.

John [00:34:03]: Right.

Nicole [00:34:03]: Well, with AI because, like, you're still gonna have the same problems potentially as you have with a human. Granted, you can, like, alter it where you're not fighting, but like you said, it's still perpetuating almost. It's worse at perpetuating the bad behavior. And then, like you said, those neurons are firing, and it's just continuing this. And we're gonna have groups of people that we've never even seen before because they have no shame or guilt or anything, because they're just living their life this way. Which I'm not saying that shame and guilt are good, but they do help shape your moral. Yes. Shame is not good. Guilt is good because it helps shape your moral compass to keep you a decent human being.

John [00:34:57]: Well, and maybe this will help people too, right? Because I think the thing to understand about it too, and this goes into everything that we're saying about relationships, because it is. The fundamental difference is that AI is and always will be a tool. What I mean by this is, like, you have to understand how AI works. AI is not thinking consciousness, at least maybe it will be in the future at some point in some way. And maybe there's some kind of blurry line there. But if you understand that AI is just approximating human language, and so it's convincing. We feel like it's talking to us, but really it's just character recognition. So the way that AI works, right, is it's what's called. All the AI systems we use right now are formed from large language models or LLMs. And so a large language model is essentially a neural network, right? So they have these computers, and these computers are simulating neurons in the brain. They have different connections in nodes that. That basically create different pathways. It's kind of a black box. We don't know what happens inside it, but it gets trained on input that produces output. And really, all that these LLMs are. We didn't even know it was going to create intelligence or pseudo intelligence, what we'll call it when it's first invented. But all that they do is it feeds in a bunch of characters, tokens, words, Right? Characters, literally. And based on that, it forms patterns, right? So it's like when. When it sees my Greek, my. My Greek, my big fat Greek, right? And it sees wedding, and it sees it millions of times on The Internet, whenever that's mentioned, then the pattern is, when you see my big fat Greek, then the. The answer is wedding. Right? So literally all an LLM does, all an AI does is it's got. But it's got billions of data points from all the information from the Internet. It just predicts the next character, the next token that should be produced. And it's hard to believe that this is true, but you can check it. This is how AI works. And so what that means is that you're typing in stuff and you're like, oh, blah, blah, blah, blah, about your relationship or whatever it is, and you think that it's some kind of intelligent being that's like.

Nicole [00:37:23]: That has wisdom.

John [00:37:24]: But all it's literally doing, the way that it's working, is it's doing pattern recognition and it's predicting what the next character should be that it should spit out. That's why it spits out one character at a time. It does it really fast, but it forms a sentence based on its training and dictation in the syntax of human language. And ultimately it is an intelligent answer. It's not like it's just garbly gook, but. But it's an emergent technology. So my whole point in saying that is that no matter how human it appears, it's not. It is still just a tool that is based on rules and pattern recognition. And maybe it is that our brains are in some way the same way. And maybe it's, you know. But regardless, for now, at least that's something to keep in mind. Because if you keep that in mind, then you realize that, no, it's not some kind of super intelligence that's giving me.

Nicole [00:38:21]: Yeah, but what about kids getting this? They don't know.

John [00:38:24]: That's the thing. That's why people need to understand this.

Nicole [00:38:28]: Yeah, hopefully they will understand it. But I agree with you. They think that it's solving their problems. And even if they don't buy into what happened to that poor boy, you think it makes you less lonely. And in a way, yes, it gives you someone to talk to. But like you said, it's not someone you think it is, but it's not a real someone. And so it's not really actually fixing the problem. If anything, it's a tool that's making you feel more lonely.

John [00:38:55]: Right.

Nicole [00:38:56]: Even though you don't realize it, because in some way, you do realize this is not a real person, even if it feels like it. Like this is not somebody that you can, you know, go to the grocery store with. Or go to the movies with, like, that. It. It can't replace that. And even if the robots come out and they look like humans, again, someone mentioned something about Westworld, and you do need to watch that because that's essentially kind of what happens.

John [00:39:24]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:39:25]: But also everything I mentioned in the beginning of this episode also kind of happens in Westworld. So again, there's just been way too many. Even though they're movies and, like, hypothesis of what hypotheses of what could happen, it's usually not good.

John [00:39:46]: Right.

Nicole [00:39:47]: And that's what scares me. And especially in regards to relationships, like I said, I just feel like. Yes. Could it be a tool to potentially help you better your relationship? Yes, if you use it in the right way and are able to own up to your own stuff. Yeah, but how many people can do that?

John [00:40:07]: Right. That's the problem, is that they can't.

Nicole [00:40:09]: Be even to a computer. They can't be real and be like, this is what I'm doing. Even to a therapist who's supposed to be an unbiased third party, they do not a lot of times own up to the things that they're doing.

John [00:40:21]: Right. So it can send you further in the wrong direction, just like a therapist can send you further in the wrong direction.

Nicole [00:40:26]: Exactly.

John [00:40:27]: But there is, like a thing, I think, about the AI companionship that I think there is a plus to it, which is that we do have an epidemic of sexless young men that will be always that. Yeah. I think it's become more prominent. Right. I mean, you know it in society today that, I mean, this is not the ultimate solution for it, but it is the ultimate solution, I think that. Or the stopgap solution to prevent the violence that would occur. Right. So I don't know. I predict.

Nicole [00:41:00]: I think it's going to lead to more single people, less families. People are already having less kids. They're gonna just live their life talking to this thing and be content with it. Like, I think you're right. I think they'll be content with it. I think it will fulfill something.

John [00:41:13]: Yeah. But what I predict is that it will solve a temporary problem of you have a lot of restless young men that are never going to be getting laid, basically. And if they have a substitute where they can have an AI sex robot, then it will sort of pacify that population. That would cause major disruptions and uprising in society.

Nicole [00:41:42]: How do they get out of that? Or do they.

John [00:41:45]: Some. Some. I mean, I've coached, I've talked to enough guys. I'm in the space enough to know that some guys seem to be just fine and happy with that and would prefer that over a real woman. At least that's what they're telling themselves. Or they've convinced themselves of it, which is good enough. So it seems kind of great. I mean, the proof is in the pudding is that there is, like, I.

Nicole [00:42:10]: Think it's a cop out.

John [00:42:10]: There's of, you know, completely AI and people pay for that.

Nicole [00:42:16]: I think it's a cop out to not do the work.

John [00:42:19]: I agree, I agree. But it's also, you also have this, this problem where even though that's true, the people that are listening to this podcast. Yes. Don't be one of those guys, obviously. Right. But even though it is a cop out, 80% of those men don't care and they're not gonna listen to the message and they're gonna cop out. There's no way that they're just gonna be like, nah, it doesn't matter.

Nicole [00:42:42]: Yeah, but I think promoting more of those men with a solution is the wrong answer. I think what we Talked about before 4 on some of the other episodes, getting more men's group back and teaching men how to actually be men and be proud of being a man and proud of doing things and working on themselves instead of living in a victim mindset, is more of the solution than giving lonely guys an AI robot to talk to or sleep with and thinking that, that, Yes, I agree with you. That will stop some of the violence. I agree with that. And I hate the violence. I don't want that to happen. And so, yes, that is, like, very attractive to see that that could alleviate the violence.

John [00:43:32]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:43:33]: But at the same time, all I can see is that totally deteriorating relationships in general because now women will have to do the exact same thing. Because there's no good guys. Because they'd rather have a robot. Well, they don't want to work on themselves.

John [00:43:47]: Yeah. The good guys aren't probably doing. Picking the robot thing.

Nicole [00:43:50]: Right. But like. But there's not. Yeah, but he doesn't have anything to work for because he can just go have an AI robot and he actually prefer that.

John [00:43:58]: I see. Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole [00:43:59]: If he was, then women are gonna have to do that. Then there will be no children unless they're grown in a lab. Like.

John [00:44:06]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:44:06]: And then everybody's a single parent with their robot spouse. Like, is that really where we're heading? Because I think.

John [00:44:12]: I didn't even think about that.

Nicole [00:44:13]: Hopefully we're heading towards the robots will be in our lives in some degree, but we join together Collectively as humans, and start appreciating each other and realizing that we can't replace each other with robots, even if it seems like we can. And I hope we go that way instead of going that way. But it really depends on the collective of us, of what we do with this technology. And I'm just afraid of that path that I just mentioned.

John [00:44:42]: And it's important to have an imperfect partner in order to grow.

Nicole [00:44:46]: Right.

John [00:44:46]: That's the point of our podcast.

Nicole [00:44:48]: Yes.

John [00:44:48]: Better than perfect relationship comes from having imperfect partner. If you have a perfect robot partner that always does everything exactly right.

Nicole [00:44:55]: Right.

John [00:44:56]: You're just going to be crippled, you're going to be emotionally crippled, you're going to be mentally crippled. Right. You know? Yeah. So. So you have to have that in order to test yourself to be able to grow.

Nicole [00:45:06]: Of course, everybody thinks they want an easy life, but it's when life gets hard that we grow the most, that you realize that you have to have these highs and lows because that's what really makes life what it is. And so all these easy way outs, you think that it's gonna make you happier. And in some ways it will. Like with the lonely guys, I can totally see why they want somebody even though it's a robot instead of nobody. But at the end of the day, that is not the best path. That's the easiest path. It's not the best path. Honestly, more and more people want to take the easy path. That's where our society is heading right now. But I hope with AI advancing that we can take a hard stop and be like, this actually could take us down a really bad path for society, for humans.

John [00:46:00]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:46:01]: Like I said. Yeah. You're like, yeah, it gets rid of the violence for right now until no guy wants to be with a human woman. And so no woman can be with a guy. A human guy.

John [00:46:12]: Yeah, true.

Nicole [00:46:13]: So now she can't be with a human.

John [00:46:15]: I think there'll always be people that would choose, though.

Nicole [00:46:18]: Yeah. But I think it's gonna be the minority.

John [00:46:20]: Yeah, that could be. I mean, I don't know. Like, I could never see that as something that I would even consider at all. So I would not want to have a robot companion at all. Not even.

Nicole [00:46:32]: But some people would.

John [00:46:33]: Not even as a buddy, you know what I mean?

Nicole [00:46:35]: People would.

John [00:46:35]: Yeah, yeah, I know some people would because they've already chosen it. But yeah, it's such a. An interesting.

Nicole [00:46:40]: And a lot of people think that, like you said, that they want the perfect partner. I don't want to argue I don't want to get in disagreements. I just want somebody that does whatever that I want, which in the next episode that's going to be coming out, we talk a little bit about that in a different way.

John [00:46:55]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:46:56]: But stay tuned next week. That's not what people want.

John [00:46:59]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:47:00]: You know what I mean? That's not really. Because like you said, it's what they think they want. But you have to have an imperfect partner. You have to have an imperfect life.

John [00:47:08]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:47:09]: To even really benefit from the good things. Because if your life is just good all the time.

John [00:47:14]: Yeah. Yeah. There's this. Okay, so there's this. There's this. There's this show. You haven't seen it, but it's called the Good Place. Have you heard of this show?

Nicole [00:47:24]: I've heard of it, yeah.

John [00:47:25]: Okay. So in the very first season of the Good Place, it's essentially like, people die. They go to heaven. Right. But it's like this guy's in charge of making the heaven, you know? So it's like. So he makes this place called the Good Place. And it's too perfect. Like, everything is great and people just. They're like, not happy. And he's like, what the. Like.

Nicole [00:47:49]: Yeah.

John [00:47:49]: And what they found was. Because it's like a simulation. They have to, like, make a new version of it and they get. And basically what they found there is like, it's too, like, you can't have it be perfect. People hate that. It's miserable being in a perfect place where. Where you just have everything and everything always works for you. And there's like. Because there was like, you could just get whatever you wanted from the. The menu. And. And it was like, people hated it. It didn't. It didn't work. It didn't. For whatever. I can't remember what the purpose of it was like. To steal your soul or something. Anyway, people rejected it, essentially. It was the same thing in the Matrix. Right. The Matrix. Also, remember, in the Matrix movie, they're like, oh, yeah, we created this perfect world for. For humans. And then, like, their brains rejected it. And it's. But it. But it's true. Like, you have to have adversity. You cannot. You have to have difficulties and struggles in life. You have to, at least while we're here. Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole [00:48:42]: Because I do think wherever we go after this.

John [00:48:44]: Well, that's what we just talked about.

Nicole [00:48:45]: It is perfect.

John [00:48:46]: No, it can't be. Well, you still have to.

Nicole [00:48:49]: We're part of the collective. And so you don't even think about that. Honestly, is What I think, yeah, maybe that's here. We're here for it to not be perfect or we would have just stayed up there. You know what I mean? That's how I think. And again, that's a little woo woo side. But that's why we're here. And so we're trying to cheat. We're trying to cheat ourselves of what we came here to do. And that's not gonna end well. You think you're figuring it all out with this AI and, oh, I could just have a robot wife or a robot husband.

John [00:49:18]: Speaking of cheating, so there's the AI. There's a couple of ways that AI is involved in cheating. So one is like, if your partner has an AI relationship, are they cheating?

Nicole [00:49:31]: Yes.

John [00:49:32]: They got emotional relationship with an AI.

Nicole [00:49:34]: Even though it's not a human.

John [00:49:35]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:49:35]: You're still looking for that from something else. It would have been a person, but you just took again the easy way and just did it with AI.

John [00:49:44]: Yeah. I would also say if they are taking everything that's happening in the relationship and punching it into AI to talk, to get advice, that they're cheating as well because they're forming a bond with that thing.

Nicole [00:49:56]: Well, they can't trust themselves too. Like, they can't trust their own judgment. Like you said, they can't trust your judgment. And then you can't trust them putting everything in. Yeah, yeah.

John [00:50:05]: Because it's like, okay, well, they're gonna go to their AI to figure out what to do.

Nicole [00:50:08]: Yeah.

John [00:50:09]: I want you to make a decision yourself, actually, to see who you are, not what AI tells you to do.

Nicole [00:50:14]: Right. And that's kind of already creating that divide that I was talking about. That's going this way.

John [00:50:20]: Right?

Nicole [00:50:20]: Choosing AI over your partner.

John [00:50:23]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:50:23]: Being on your own and just having your AI getting your robot AI, like, that's how it starts.

John [00:50:32]: My AI buddy and me.

Nicole [00:50:36]: Is that like your slogan?

John [00:50:39]: Wasn't there like that little thing in the 90s, the. My buddy, my buddy and me, they had like a little doll.

Nicole [00:50:48]: It's like, I can't recall.

John [00:50:50]: I think there was a thing. But. But also cheating in the. In the sense that now you can fake text messages and data and you can make AI create a video showing that. No, this is where I was today. But you weren't there today.

Nicole [00:51:08]: I didn't think about that.

John [00:51:09]: Deep fake. Or you can make it look like someone's cheating. Yeah. So there's, there's. Yeah.

Nicole [00:51:16]: If you're trying to make it look like someone's cheating, you're self Sabotaging your relationship. But yeah, it's. I don't think AI in really, any capacity belongs in relationships. If you want to use it again for how much protein is in this, which isn't even the right way to do it. Right, sure, that's fine. But using it to now come in between your relationship, almost like a third party in your relationship, I don't think is a good idea because I just don't think that it can really understand humans the way that humans can understand humans. I think it's an easy fix, which in the long term is going to create more problems rather than just sitting down with your partner and not being like, am I right or is he right? Right. If you're doing that, you're already on the wrong path.

John [00:52:08]: Yeah, that's me driving in the Tesla. Go left or go right. It's like, it just tells me which direction to go. I'm like, I don't know if I'm going north or south. It doesn't matter. I just follow the direction. But, yeah, you don't want that in a relationship.

Nicole [00:52:23]: Right. Like, it's not supposed to be who's right and who's wrong. It's supposed to be, how can we, as a couple fix this problem?

John [00:52:29]: Right.

Nicole [00:52:30]: How can we grow? How can I support you if you're struggling with this thing and vice versa? Like, that's what we're supposed to be doing. And so I'm team no to AI Just in general. It gives.

John [00:52:46]: I won't tell the AI that you.

Nicole [00:52:47]: It gives. Black Mirror Thronglets episode. To me, it's gonna eventually, like, it seems all innocent and yada yada, but then it's gonna start. It's gonna get smarter than us, and then it's not gonna need us like we were talking about before the camera started rolling. And then you're like, we'll be ants.

John [00:53:04]: But it is just a tool. So that's.

Nicole [00:53:06]: I don't want to be an ant.

John [00:53:07]: Yeah, it's just a tool. So that's. The thing is, like, it's not.

Nicole [00:53:11]: As long as we keep thinking of it that way, we can maintain it.

John [00:53:15]: The danger is in people thinking that it's not a tool and thinking it's. It's real.

Nicole [00:53:19]: It's an entity. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

John [00:53:21]: Even though it appears to be, it might be.

Nicole [00:53:24]: It might get to a point where it is.

John [00:53:25]: Maybe, Maybe.

Nicole [00:53:27]: But right now it's not. But I do fear that it will get to the point where it is.

John [00:53:32]: But the thing is, like, you can't. I Think this is an important thing to address. Just because you cannot hide from this, it is going to happen.

Nicole [00:53:39]: Like saying it to me because, well, it's.

John [00:53:41]: I mean, it has. You have to figure out how you're going to adapt to this, this world. Because whether you like it or not, it's not something you can opt out of. It is going to. Fundamentally, the next five years of human history are going to be the most radical that have ever existed. The most changes thing, everything. You know, probably not going to have jobs in five. Majority of people are probably not going to have jobs in five years. It's not going to make sense or it's going to look completely different than what. And we were talking about this before, but maybe that. Because you're like, well, what are people going to do? And I hope maybe the answer is that they'll focus on relationships. Right? Because if you don't work, you don't have to do chores. You don't. Right. Then what do you do? You spend time with people, real people having real relationships, which is what we're missing. Technology took it away from us. With social media, it was like, you have a thousand friends on Facebook, but you don't have any actual friends. That's what happened is social media took it away from us. But maybe it will give it back to us. That would have been a perfect way to end the like if I was doing a radio broadcast. But maybe it will give it back to us. Maybe what will happen is that when, because we were talking about this too, is I do think that AI is the ultimate ego destroyer, because first it will come for your intelligence. And it's like, okay, AI beat you already at that. No matter what. You think you're smart. No, AI is way smarter. Whatever you type into that, it's going to give you a better answer than the most intelligent person on this planet.

Nicole [00:55:15]: Yeah.

John [00:55:16]: But then it's also going to come for your skill set. Right? Everyone, I mean, artists are feeling it now. I hate to be a logo designer right now, you know, lawyers, but it's going to be video editors. I mean, that's already. They're already feeling it majorly. But writers, everything, like all of these, these things, programmers, right. It doesn't matter.

Nicole [00:55:38]: Like actors.

John [00:55:39]: Yeah. Like, because they can act better than you can. So, I mean, all of these things are. Eventually you're going to realize your skills are going to be worthless. So you're not going to be able to say, oh, I'm smarter than you, or I'm more skilled than you, because it doesn't matter because AI is going to make you all equal, but then also your body. Because AI is going to allow advancements in medical technology to the point where if you want muscles, you want to look younger, you want. You're going to have those therapies, those treatments, modify your DNA, whatever. Like you can have whatever body you want, whatever. Like you can be good looking. Everyone will have that available. I don't know if that'll be in the next five years, but it's coming for sure, right? I mean, there's no way that that doesn't come. So eventually. I think we get to a point where it's like you have no ego left, because what are you proud of? Only who you are as a person. That's the only differentiator that's left. And so that makes being a good person and the relationships that you have the only thing that you have in life that is discernibly different than anyone else. Because everything else you can't attribute to yourself. So maybe it destroys ego and we live in Kumbaya harmony.

Nicole [00:56:52]: I'm hoping that it's for good and not Terminator vibes, but I will just say that you're right. You do have to accept it. Yeah, everybody does, even if you don't want to. But I want to say too that it is still your choice how you use it. And so you have the choice so that you don't feel powerless. Like, yes, you have to accept it, but it's your choice how you use it. Like you said. Are you using this to better yourself? Are you using this to, you know, help you do the work? Like, you still have to do the work, but it's helping guide you on that path. Are you using it to just do everything for you? And so you're stuck in the place that you're at or even back going backwards because you don't have to deal with it anymore. So just to give anyone else who's listening to this, who's not Team AI. Yes, you do have to accept it, but you choose how you use it. And so you don't have to use it to take the easy way out and allow it to make you someone who doesn't do the hard work and who doesn't appreciate the humanized things of life. Because I've always said it, even as, like social media kept getting to this place where it seemed like it was all this technology and all this, like, fakeness. I mean, that's where it is now. We're still humans, but we're Doing all this fake stuff just to get views and stuff. Right. So I still think that people will gravitate towards, hopefully things like our podcast, where you can see that we're just being humans. Like, we're not perfect. We've learned a lot of things because we're not perfect.

John [00:58:30]: Right.

Nicole [00:58:30]: And that connects people together more than the fake stuff, be it people acting fake or the AI progression.

John [00:58:40]: Yeah. We're real.

Nicole [00:58:41]: We're real.

John [00:58:41]: We're really real. We're not a problem.

Nicole [00:58:44]: We're really real.

John [00:58:44]: We're real. Not those other. They're fake. We are real. We're not AI.

Nicole [00:58:51]: We're the realest real that we could be.

John [00:58:54]: Yeah. We're not prompts.

Nicole [00:59:00]: Anyways, I guess we should go to our in segment.

John [00:59:04]: Yeah. Oh, yeah, I got nothing. Do you guys.

Nicole [00:59:09]: I mean, I think we just had parenting struggles since the last time that.

John [00:59:13]: We were here, but it was good, you know, like, not. Not struggles between.

Nicole [00:59:17]: We needed to be really real.

John [00:59:18]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:59:19]: You know?

John [00:59:19]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:59:20]: In that scenario, we weren't really being real. I mean, we were being real, but we were almost kind of like sheltering.

John [00:59:27]: Yeah.

Nicole [00:59:28]: Her.

John [00:59:28]: Yeah. We can't get into the details, obviously, because of the. The situation and it wouldn't be. But. But yeah, we had some. Some struggles with. With our daughter and the co parenting situation, and. And ultimately the solution ended up telling her about how we felt, which was something that we kind of avoided doing because we're like, we don't want to put our emotions onto a child because a child shouldn't be responsible for adult emotions. But the wisdom actually came from Sophia, where she said, I won't say the exact words, but she said, if you do it in a way where you're like, you ruined my vacation because, you know, and you've made me responsible for your emotions, like something that should belong to you, then that's wrong. But if you say, when you did this, this is how I felt and it hurt me, I want you to tell me that and it helps me to know that. And I was like, wow, this is wisdom from. Yeah. I was like, you're right about that and it's turned out to be true. And I feel a lot better understood by.

Nicole [01:00:41]: I think we just didn't do it because we so much didn't want to do it the wrong way. And she already had a lot on her, and we didn't want to add to that, like you said, but we didn't really know how to do it in a way that didn't make her feel that way. Because it just can feel like.

John [01:01:01]: Yeah.

Nicole [01:01:01]: Expressing any sort of, like, emotion as a parent to your kid feels kind of burdensome, you know, like, you don't want to do that.

John [01:01:08]: Any negative emotion.

Nicole [01:01:09]: Right? Yeah. Like telling your kid, like, hey, this hurt when this happened, you know, like, you know, when you ignored me or something, it just made me feel like you didn't care or something. Like, it's hard to even say something like that without feeling like you're putting something on your kid. But at the same time, because we weren't doing it, she didn't know any of these things. And so it's not even really her fault in a way. Like, some of, you know, some things. Some things, yeah, there is a responsibility of her to, like, you know, there was still some of that. But a lot of it, too, though, when you really look at it, is that she didn't know because we didn't tell her.

John [01:01:50]: And we robbed her of the experience of, you know. Because as I think about it, I'm like, imagine that you're in a relationship with someone and they never tell you how they feel about things that you've done.

Nicole [01:02:04]: Right.

John [01:02:05]: You would kind of start to be annoyed with them at some point, probably, like, okay, like, you're just perfect. Like, you just never have problems. Like, you just whatever. You just deal with or whatever crap and. But I don't. I don't feel like I have a real relationship with you because I don't know how you feel about. About things. I only hear good things. You only act nice and kind all the time. Like, what. What actually bothered you or hurt you.

Nicole [01:02:30]: Right.

John [01:02:31]: You know, like. Like if we. If we had a relationship and I never told you anything that ever upset me, or I was just, like, cheerful and pleasant all the time, you probably start to feel like I'm AI.

Nicole [01:02:43]: Yeah. Way to round out the episode. No, you're right. So, yeah, we learned a lot from.

John [01:02:50]: The mouth of babes. All right, well, yeah, follow us, actually, you know, go visit our AI generated website that I.

Nicole [01:03:00]: Hey, I did some of it. Yeah, like some little tweaking? No, no, very minimal.

John [01:03:05]: Yeah, no, you made it look beautiful. But I just put all the episodes in there with my AI tool, which is a lot. Yeah, yeah, it was. It's crazy. So I'm gonna keep on working on it, but. Betterthanperfectpod.com pod. Yeah, better than perfectpod.com and then you can check out all our other stuff there and you can subscribe, I think, on there, and we'll send you a new notification when the episode comes out. Leave us some reviews, if you don't mind. We need some kind of review incentive program, but.

Nicole [01:03:35]: Incentive program?

John [01:03:37]: Yeah. I don't know. We'll see. I don't know, but yeah. All right, that's it. We'll see you next week.