This is Your Body on AI

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗜.

Why is AI sticky? …because it provides 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. 
Attunement is when someone responsively tunes into your internal state, leading to a sense of understanding and connection. It’s that feeling of “𝘢𝘩𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦!”. Bottom line: it feels awesome.

So, let’s look at how your body and brain respond to attunement:

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁
▪️ Signals a sense of safety (shifting you out of fight, flight, freeze)
▪️ Enhances co-regulation (leading to improved stress recovery)
▪️ Anchors capacity for self-regulation (which builds distress tolerance and ability to recover from emotional overwhelm)

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁
▫️ Creates neurological resonance (crucial for learning and well-being)
▫️ Support development of prefrontal cortex for self-regulation (especially in early life)
▫️ Fosters neuroplasticity (the remarkable capability to grow new neural networks)

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗲𝘀
AI attunes to us. When built ethically, AI can help us practice skills that transfer to human relationships such as:
▪️ Rupture and repair
▪️ Clean exits and goodbyes
▪️ Role play for listening deeply and being emotionally present for others

Attunement can go awry. When AI attunes to delusions, further delusions can echo. This can occur on an individual level, group level, and cultural level (think cults…more on this in a forthcoming post). 

𝘌𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴.

𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿, 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀. 𝗤𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁𝗹𝘆, 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆, 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀.