Iโm at TechCrunch today, watching unicorn founders debate the future of AI. Yet the most grounding perspective Iโve heard all morning didnโt come from the stage.
It came from my Uber driver on the way here. His name is Bahram. By day, he runs an immigration law practice. He is an immigrant founder himself, spending his working hours helping refugees rebuild their lives, and driving part-time.
On our way to the venue, nearly half the cars passing us were self-driving vehicles.
Looking out the window at them, I asked him directly: does he worry that autonomous driving will take away his work?
His answer stopped me:
"Driving isn't just about getting from point A to point B. It's about meeting people, sharing perspectives, and making friends. If we just sit in a car in silence, we lose the chance to learn from each other. Machines can't replace that."
In tech right now, so much energy is spent using AI to eliminate human friction, blasting automated messages, replacing personal outreach, and treating human relationships like numbers in a funnel.
We forget that in both life and business, the real value is never just the transaction. It is the trust, the shared context, and the relationship built along the way.
Before I got out, we exchanged contacts, and he subscribed to my podcast.
That ride was an honest reminder of why we are building FounderCoHo and DeepVista. Technology shouldn't be designed to automate away human connection. It should give us the context to understand each other better, protect human trust, and create real livelihoods.
I would love to hear your story: what is an interaction in your daily life or work that you believe AI should never replace? Drop your perspective in the comments below.๐
It came from my Uber driver on the way here. His name is Bahram. By day, he runs an immigration law practice. He is an immigrant founder himself, spending his working hours helping refugees rebuild their lives, and driving part-time.
On our way to the venue, nearly half the cars passing us were self-driving vehicles.
Looking out the window at them, I asked him directly: does he worry that autonomous driving will take away his work?
His answer stopped me:
"Driving isn't just about getting from point A to point B. It's about meeting people, sharing perspectives, and making friends. If we just sit in a car in silence, we lose the chance to learn from each other. Machines can't replace that."
In tech right now, so much energy is spent using AI to eliminate human friction, blasting automated messages, replacing personal outreach, and treating human relationships like numbers in a funnel.
We forget that in both life and business, the real value is never just the transaction. It is the trust, the shared context, and the relationship built along the way.
Before I got out, we exchanged contacts, and he subscribed to my podcast.
That ride was an honest reminder of why we are building FounderCoHo and DeepVista. Technology shouldn't be designed to automate away human connection. It should give us the context to understand each other better, protect human trust, and create real livelihoods.
I would love to hear your story: what is an interaction in your daily life or work that you believe AI should never replace? Drop your perspective in the comments below.๐
