We set out to teach AI fluency. We thought people just needed a ladder—tools, tips, a bit of training—and they’d climb. Some started exploring, but many didn’t. That’s when we began to wonder: What were we missing? What’s holding so many of us back from even trying?
People weren’t resisting because they were lazy or negative. They were coming to terms with a kind of identity shock: we’re no longer the only intelligence in the room. That realization shakes the foundations on which many of us have built our careers, reputations, and self-worth. Everyone reacts differently. You can read it in headlines. We saw it in the workshops. You hear it in conversations.
We went through the same thing and forgot what it felt like to stand at the beginning, curious and overwhelmed. That makes connecting with those still standing at the start harder.
So, with this article, we step back to reconnect, explore what’s happening beneath the surface, and find the kind of grounded acceptance that helps us move forward without getting stuck in doom loops or hype cycles.
Today, we still occasionally panic or get swept up in hype. But the difference is that we somehow return to the messy middle faster, not because we’re at peace, but because we’ve built some resilience to deal with shocks.
You can’t move forward until you know where you’re standing
Most people aren’t resisting AI. They’re still absorbing what it means. And that process feels a lot like grief.
We created the AI Change Wave, a model we adapted from the classic Kübler-Ross change curve. It helps people locate where they are emotionally in their journey with AI, and make sense of what they’re reading and seeing around them.
AI isn’t a change you adapt to and move on from. It’s a moving target—a future without closure. So the curves become waves —sometimes smaller, sometimes stronger, but always in motion. Like aftershocks, each new leap in AI may jolt us again, but the intensity flattens over time.
Here’s how it works.
The AI Change Wave maps your emotional state from shock, denial, and bargaining to experimentation and fluency. It also highlights two traps:
Doom Spiral: "We’re screwed."
Hype High: "AI will solve everything (and make us rich)."
Both are forms of emotional coping. One collapses under fear, while the other skips complexity and pretends everything is fine and under control. Neither is grounded nor healthy.
Stages of the curve: what they sound like
Shock – "What is this? This can’t be real."
Typical behavior: freezing, over-consuming content, flipping between fascination and fear.
Denial & Anger – "This is just a fad." / "This will destroy everything."
Typical behavior: dismissing AI’s significance, emphasizing flaws, blaming developers or systems.
Bargaining – "We just need regulation." / "Ethical AI can save us."
Typical behavior: trying to contain the disruption, promoting governance or alignment frameworks.
Despair – "We’ve lost control." / "What’s the point of trying?"
Typical behavior: creative paralysis, existential fear, withdrawal.
Acceptance – "We’re not going back. What can we still own?"
Typical behavior: rethinking identity, focusing on human uniqueness (values, ethics, empathy).
Experiment – "Let’s try something small."
Typical behavior: experimenting with AI tools in low-stakes settings, building comfort.
AI Fluency – "This is part of how I work now."
Typical behavior: productivity, integrating AI into workflows, making judgment calls, learning with AI, and co-creating with AI
Repeat Cycles – Adapt → Integrate → Adapt again.
Because change is constant, and each new leap may send us back into a new wave of emotion, the real growth lies not in accepting a new state but in accepting that there will be many new states.
Over time, we build the resilience to move through these cycles more quickly without always falling into the deep valley of despair.
Learn to surf the AI Change Wave
You need to locate yourself before you learn and lead.
Where are you on the curve right now?
Where’s your team—stuck, anxious, experimenting?
What about that article or tweet that triggered you? What stage is it speaking from?
The AI Change Wave GPT helps you stop reacting and start navigating. And now, our custom GPT can help you do exactly that.
You can talk to it to:
Map where you are on the wave, based on simple reflective questions
Analyze content—tweets, articles, statements—and identify the emotional stage it's coming from
Understand how your team or audience might be responding emotionally before pushing them toward action
This isn’t therapy. It’s orientation. Once you know where you stand, you’re no longer lost. You can move—intentionally. Tiny, safe experiments are where fluency begins.
Get the tools to move forward
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