How is AI reshaping not only what we do, but who we are? In this episode of Humans of AI, we chat with Andrew McLuhan, a poet, writer, researcher, and the founder and director of The McLuhan Institute, where he develops and teaches ways of analyzing the nature of technologies and their personal and social effects. As the grandson of renowned media theorist Marshall McLuhan and the son of Eric McLuhan, Andrew brings a perspective shaped by three generations of thinking about how media and technology transform human life. Andrew explains why artificial intelligence should be understood as more than just another tool. AI is becoming part of the environment around us, reshaping how we think, create, communicate, trust information, and understand ourselves. We unpack Marshall McLuhan’s famous idea that “the medium is the message,” why focusing only on the content produced by AI can distract us from its deeper effects, and what earlier shifts—from oral culture and print to radio, television, and the internet—can teach us about the present moment. We also explore how AI overviews and agents are changing search, discoverability, and the economics of publishing; why the risks of AI extend beyond automation to mental fatigue, weakened judgment, trust erosion, and value misalignment; and how every technology strengthens certain human abilities while allowing others to fade. Andrew offers a practical way to evaluate new technologies against our personal, family, and community values—and asks which parts of ourselves we should be unwilling to outsource. Andrew also shares his unconventional path from punk rock, poetry, and furniture upholstery to carrying forward the work of Marshall and Eric McLuhan. The result is a wide-ranging conversation about media, culture, identity, consciousness, and the question underneath nearly every debate about AI: not only “What can this technology do?” but “What is it doing to us?” Learn more about Andrew and his work: The McLuhan Institute: https://themcluhaninstitute.com/ Andrew McLuhan: https://andrewmcluhan.com/
