What Gets Lost When We Talk About AI and Work

I recently heard the actress Sally Field describe her work as more than “work”. As she described it, “it was my language with myself.”

My language with myself.

In my many years as a journalist, my intention when interviewing the vast number of interesting people that would come my way was to get to the beating heart of who they were, why they chose to do what they did, and the courage to stay true to themselves. In lean times, in times of immense personal and professional struggle, in times when even they questioned the path they were on, there was always something that kept them going. What they would reveal to me was that something was the ability to live and work in a way that felt most natural to them, like they were breathing.

When the work we do reflects something essential about who we are, it creates a different kind of energy. If we are lucky enough to earn a living doing work that aligns with our values, we are communicating with ourselves in a way that validates that feeling within us that longs to be seen—not by others, but by ourselves.

Even if the work we do isn’t our calling, even if what we do is about financially supporting our families and giving us a sense of purpose, there is dignity in that, there is pride in that. A sense that we are participating in our own lives rather than simply performing them.

Which is why I find some of the current conversations around AI so unsettling.

When business figures talk casually about AI replacing huge swathes of work and “freeing people up”, I wonder if they understand what work actually represents for many people.

Because work is not only economic.

For many of us, it is creative expression. Contribution. Identity. Connection. Meaning. Whether someone works in art, teaching, hospitality, healthcare, writing, public service, design, coaching, or countless other professions, work can become a way of saying: this is how I move through the world. This is how I contribute to it.

Perhaps that is the deeper fear about AI. Not only the very real economic catastrophe caused by the loss of jobs, but also the loss of relationship we have with ourselves—the loss of a place where we locate ourselves, express ourselves, and feel useful.

For Sally Field, work was the one place where she felt she had any agency over her life. Remembering, like it was yesterday instead of 50 years ago, the time when she was in a tumultuous, even abusive, relationship with Burt Reynolds, work was how she built a relationship with herself. Telling People magazine, “…he could hurt me, humiliate me, but don’t mess with my work because work meant more to me than work….(the roles I played) changed me, they affected me…I started to grow up.”

Maybe that is what we risk losing when we reduce work to efficiency, output, or something to simply “get through” before real life begins. At its best, work is not only what we do, but one of the ways we come to understand ourselves. It gives structure to our inner world. It asks something of us. It reveals something back to us. It also allows us to financially live a life outside of it. Perhaps that is why so many of us fight so hard to hold onto work that feels meaningful, even when it is difficult, uncertain, or imperfect. Because sometimes the work is not just the work. Sometimes it is the conversation we are having with ourselves about who we are becoming.

And there is nothing artificial about that.

Monita xo