Something is shifting again, and this time it feels subtle enough to miss. We are using AI to negotiate our bills. To draft our emails. To guide our conversations. Scripts are talking to scripts while we sit in the middle, repeating words we did not fully form ourselves.

Most of us have not stopped to ask what that does to us.

In the second part of this AI conversation, Amy and guest, Bill Kirst, go deeper into the grief of living in a world that no longer feels fully real. What happens when our conversations are optimized instead of lived? When conflict is copy pasted instead of worked through? When music moves us, only to discover no human voice ever stood behind it? When art is polished into perfection without the trembling hands that once created it?

What is the cost of editing out the pause, the breath, the crack in the voice? What happens when debate is replaced with algorithmic agreement? When we slowly outsource the friction that once shaped our character, our creativity, our leadership?

This conversation is not anti technology. It is a call to discernment. A call back to vinyl scratches and imperfect storytelling. A reminder that inspiration does not live in speed or scale. It lives in depth. In effort. In presence.

If we hand over too much of ourselves, we may wake up one day asking a harder question.

Who am I, if I no longer sound like me?

Listen closely. Notice what rises in your body. Then decide what parts of your humanity you are willing to protect.

Threads We Pulled On:

1. The Collapse Of Trust In A Deepfake Era – Confront the grief that surfaces when you can no longer distinguish what is real and begin questioning what you once trusted.
2. Creativity Without Imperfection – Consider what happens to art, music, and storytelling when machines remove the friction that gives creative work its meaning.
3. The Habit Of Disconnection – Notice how repeated reliance on AI tools slowly conditions you to outsource tension, conflict, and authentic expression.
4. Nostalgia As Resistance – Reclaim tangible artifacts and embodied experiences as a way to anchor yourself in what feels undeniably human.
5. The Reverse Renaissance – Envision a future where you deepen discernment, return to richer wells of inspiration, and choose to create with intention.

You can listen to Bill’s episode - AI & The Poetry of Our Existence with Bill Kirst here - https://create-magic-at-work-r.captivate.fm/episode/ai-the-poetry-of-our-existence-with-bill-kirst/

About the Guest:

Bill Kirst is an author, technology leader, podcast host, military veteran, mentor, educator and mindfulness practitioner. He has been writing stories, poems and lyrics for as long as he can remember. He hails from a long line of storytellers and educators who are deeply inspired, moved and healed by the power of the written word. Mixing in melody, chords and a chorus generate a powerful response toward healing. This is why he sees the world through a songwriter's eyes, and why his first published work was a collection of poetry. And his second book is focuses on how we hold on to our humanity in this era of AI....

Something is happening in our lives, and we can all feel it. Voices can be cloned. Stories can be automated. Images can be generated. And most of us are moving through it without fully stopping to ask what that does to our humanity..

In this first part of a two-part conversation, Amy sits down with returning guest Bill Kirst to explore what it means to live in a world where we are beginning to question what is real. Bill reads from his Substack piece, The Buying of Our Breath, and the conversation goes straight to the human cost.

What happens when you discover the voice that moved you didn’t belong to a human body? When narration exists without presence? When we start editing out the very things that prove we are alive — the pause, the breath, the crack in the voice, our human “imperfections”?

The things we once tried to erase may be our last undeniable proof of life.

Take a listen. Hear the plea. Then decide for yourself — how far will we let the buying of our breath go?

Threads We Pulled On:

1. Rest Versus Restlessness – Explore why productivity tools promise freedom yet leave us feeling more unsettled and emotionally depleted.
2. The Commodification of Voice – Understand what it means when Olympic narration, news reporting, and podcasting can be replicated without the human present.
3. Proof of Life in Imperfection – See how coughs, pauses, filler words, and breath may become the rarest markers of authenticity.
4. The Grief of Artificial Reality – Recognize the subtle but profound emotional toll of discovering something you believed was real was AI-generated.
5. Discernment as a Leadership Skill – Consider why the future may demand deeper emotional intelligence and conscious filtering rather than faster consumption.
6. Rebellion Against the Autofill – Exercising discernment and agency in a culture engineered for automation.

You can listen to Bill’s episode - AI & The Poetry of Our Existence with Bill Kirst here - https://create-magic-at-work-r.captivate.fm/episode/ai-the-poetry-of-our-existence-with-bill-kirst/

About the Guest:

Bill Kirst is an author, technology leader, podcast host, military veteran, mentor, educator and mindfulness practitioner. He has been writing stories, poems and lyrics for as long as he can remember. He hails from a long line of storytellers and educators who are deeply inspired, moved and healed by the power of the written word. Mixing in melody, chords and a chorus generate a powerful response toward healing. This is why he sees the world through a songwriter's eyes, and why his first published work was a collection of poetry. And his second book is focuses on how we hold on to our humanity in this era of AI.

In addition to writing, he hosts The Coffee & Change Podcast which went into its tenth season this year. Bill helps people thrive and break through common obstacles that seem to be holding them back so they can reach their true potential. His career as a change leader has been rewarding, impactful and inspirational, reminding him of the importance of this work,...

Growth often begins the moment we admit the current container can no longer hold what wants to emerge. Amy shares the behind-the-scenes evolution of Create Magic at Work and the birth of Magic Thread Media, a podcast network created to give expansive voices the space they deserve. Rooted in spiritual intelligence, creative courage, and deep listening, the reflection honors what has been built while allowing form to change, making room for new rhythms, new shows, and a broader constellation of conversations. What remains constant is a commitment to conscious work, soulful inquiry, and following the discernment that says it is time.

About Amy:

Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work.

She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™. Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality.

Connect with Amy:

https://createmagicatwork.net/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work

https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427

https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg

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This show was brought to you in part by the Magic Thread Media Network. To learn more visit: https://magicthreadmedia.com/