The Human Factor
This is a reposting of a newsletter I sent out in April of 2026. Occasionally I’ll send something out that really touches a nerve, I can tell by the number of immediate replies I get. So I thought I’d share it, more publicly here.
I’m scrapping my planned subject for this month’s newsletter to share a story that happened yesterday.
I’m working with a repeat client on a one week website. I like this client very much.
My process to create website text, is to lead the client through a guided conversation, then use the transcript and some very specific prompts to create the website copy using Claude.
I don’t copy and paste this into the website. I review it, re-prompt, delete, move around, add to it and wordsmith.
Claude dutifully arranged the text to follow best practice marketing conversion frameworks: Start with the problem, talk about the transformation, show the bridge, yada yada yada.
I took one look at it and thought: This is all wrong.
My client is an accomplished, thoughtful and soulful man. In the course of our conversation, I asked him why he thinks he’s good at what he does. I was trying to get to the heart of what he uniquely brings to his work.
He said:
“I’m a huge optimist about people. As soon as someone comes through the door and says I don’t think I'm good enough — straight away, my senses are looking for all the beautiful things that they can't see in themselves yet.”
It was a beautiful thing to say, and it landed with me. I felt it viscerally, in my body.
While putting together the site, it became obvious THAT was the headline. THAT is what mattered. I understood this because I was listening, I was interested and I cared.
I’m not telling you this to tout my excellent listening skills or my deep capacity for empathy (that’s actually not my strong suit!) I’m telling you because we’re all bracing for AI impact. None of us know where this is really going and many of us think it’s probably nowhere good.
He joked when we started that his daughter told him he didn’t need a web designer anymore, he could just do it all with AI. I explained that his daughter wasn’t wrong! I will be very surprised if this job exists in three years.
And yet.
When I revealed the site, he was overcome. He said:
"It’s joyful to look at. When I saw the front page and that rotating image you got, I thought, yeah, yeah, you got it. You got it.”
Again, I’m not writing this to low key show you what a great designer I am. It’s to say this: There is something fundamental that transpires between humans that cannot be replaced. Even if it’s mediated through a Zoom call, even if it’s assisted using AI.
I recently came across ‘What will be scarce’, an incredible essay about AI and the job sector by U of Chicago professor Alex Imas. In it he makes this seemingly obvious point:
As commodity production gets automated, income and employment flow toward the sectors with high income elasticity: what I am calling the relational sector, including the arts but also care, [emphasis mine] education, hospitality, therapy, personal services, craftsmanship, and community, where the human element is part of the value.
The days of people hiring web designers may very well be numbered, but caring, craft and connection will never be obsolete.
