The secret to confidence.

It comes from repeatedly doing the uncomfortable.

Right now, your nervous system labels the unfamiliar as dangerous. 

But practice doing the hard thing, the scary thing, the new thing enough times, and your threat detection system waves a white flag.

Put in the reps until the u...

I co-authored a book!

𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀. 

The next will manage hybrid teams of humans and AI agents. 
Most leaders are not ready.

The question this book builds toward is not what to do with AI, plenty of books answer that. It is what to 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 - in order to run this well, ...

Remember when we were talking about shadow AI use. Seems like that was only a second ago...

Let's take a look at current use through a different lens:

"A new global survey of 3,750 executives and employees across 14 countries, conducted by SAP subsidiary WalkMe for its fifth annual State of Digital Ad...

No AI platform has implemented deliberate design for the death of a chatbot. 

"Millions of users form emotional attachments to AI companions like Character AI, Replika, and ChatGPT. When these relationships end through model updates, safety interventions, or platform shutdowns, users receive no closu...

The future of connection is still human.

Using AI as a rehearsal for relationships is a framework I talk about often. But it has always come with a 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨...

Human connection is best.

Human connection is the goal.

When I say we can use AI as a training ground for relat...

People prefer and trust sycophantic AI responses over human responses.

This recent research measures the prevalence of sycophancy (flattery, blind affirmation and validation) across 11 general purpose LLMs and 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱:

Chatbot responses were nearly 50% more sycophantic than humans... e...

30% of the population will use AI for companionship by 2040.

Read that statistic again. That's what experts predict in the Stanford 2026 AI Index.

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:
▪️ 10% by 2027 (hello, that's next year)
▪️ 15% by 2030 (that's right around the corner)
▪️ 30% by 2040 (sooner than you think)

The general public...

Only 7% of the population believes AI will have a positive impact on personal relationships in the next 20 years.

The 2026 AI Index out of Stanford University goes on to share that 22% of AI experts believe AI will have a positive impact on personal relationships in the next 20 years.

Overall, the rep...

Last week I joined the 'viral post' club. Here's what I learned...

I've been posting quite a bit of research lately and one article about how texting with a random human peer might be more affective in alleviating loneliness compared to texting with a chatbot seemed to strike a chord. 

68,000 impressi...

Thank you California Psychological Association for inviting me to speak about AI + Mental Health!
 
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻: Friday, April 17, 2026
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm (PT)
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: Zoom - Live Webinar
𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿: Dr. Rachel Wood, PhD

𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally shifting the relational bedrock of...

Let's talk about unrealistic relationship expectations. Because this recent research explores how it can be a potential concern with adolescent use of AI companions.

Here are the potential benefits and risks for adolescents using AI companions that this article covers:

✅ Can provide safe spaces for id...

This is the kind of research that helps shape the way forward in bespoke and substantive ways.

If you haven't yet had a chance to dive into The Rithm Project's study on Youth, AI, and the Relationships That Shape Them... I think it's worthy of your time.

After reading, I needed to sit with it for a bi...