The last few years have led us to a crossroads with artificial intelligence. The path we choose — to embrace AI as a tool for collective advancement or to wield it as a weapon that benefits only a few — will profoundly shape our future. It’s a choice between win-win and win-lose.
As the leader of a company long committed to healthy people, a healthy planet, and a healthy way of life, I believe the question we have to ask is, “How can AI improve people’s lives?”
Consider how AI is being used as a win-win in health and wellness. AI-powered health monitoring can pinpoint subtle changes in someone’s movement patterns, helping prevent injuries. Smart devices can analyze sleep patterns and recovery metrics, enabling personalized workout recommendations.
These applications don’t replace human expertise, they complement it, allowing our trainers and health professionals to deliver more precise, effective guidance to their clients.
There are opportunities like these in every industry. In healthcare, for instance, AI is helping doctors detect diseases earlier, analyze medical images more accurately, and develop personalized treatment plans. This is what a win-win can look like — technology amplifying human capability rather than diminishing it.
AI is helping doctors detect diseases earlier, analyze medical images more accurately, and develop personalized treatment plans. This is what a win-win can look like — technology amplifying human capability rather than diminishing it.
On the other hand, we’ve seen AI deepfakes that deceive, algorithms that divide, and automations that displace workers without consideration for their future. This win-lose approach might be good for a few, but it ultimately undermines the collective trust and cooperation we need to address humanity’s greatest challenges.
It creates misalignment when what we need is clear alignment that allows us to move forward together, as a team.
The anxiety many people feel about AI is understandable. Change, especially at this unprecedented pace, creates uncertainty. It challenges us to think and do things differently, which can leave us feeling like we’re not safe. But that doesn’t mean change isn’t good.
Through decades of building healthy communities at Life Time, we’ve witnessed how the willingness to challenge ourselves leads to transformation, which leads to growth. The key with AI is ensuring that growth, even when challenging, benefits everyone.
Imagine how greater alignment and more holistic planning around AI could serve our communities and the world at large for the better. This could help us create technology that elevates, rather than eliminates, our potential. It can enhance our abilities while preserving our agency.
The key with AI is ensuring that growth, even when challenging, benefits everyone.
On a broad scale, AI has tremendous potential to create efficiencies and solve complex challenges in public health, environmental sustainability, and social equity. It can optimize energy use in our cities, reduce waste in our food systems, and accelerate the development of clean technologies. (At the same time, we need to get aligned about how to address the environmental impacts of AI, which does come at a cost.)
Artificial intelligence can expand our horizons and do things humans have yet to do — think deep-space exploration and the discoveries it could reveal.
Here at Life Time, we’re exploring ways to use AI across our business. We’re challenging everyone to understand how it can streamline processes (it helped turn my notes on this topic into an early draft of this column, for instance) and create better experiences for anyone interested in healthy living.
One application we’re especially excited about is Life Time’s AI companion, L•AI•C (pronounced Lay-see). A core feature of our app, L•AI•C can not only help members navigate their memberships more easily but also help people everywhere find workouts, programs, and nutrition guidance, as well as get answers to their health and wellness questions.
By consciously choosing the path of win-win, we can ensure that AI becomes a force for collective advancement and good, helping us create a healthier, happier, and more sustainable world for all.
As L•AI•C gets smarter, it will be able to make personalized health and fitness recommendations based on someone’s latest activities and unique health data. It will be able to track their progress in a meaningful way. It’s a win-win.
When it comes down to it, the choice between win-win and win-lose isn’t just about technology: It’s about our values and vision for the future. We have a responsibility to demonstrate how AI can be developed and deployed in ways that unite rather than divide, that empower rather than replace, and that serve the greater good while driving innovation.
The future of AI is being shaped by the choices we make today. By consciously choosing the path of win-win, we can ensure that AI becomes a force for collective advancement and good, helping us create a healthier, happier, and more sustainable world for all.
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