I’ve had many feelings about the latest AI-generated trend where people plug in some information about themselves (I guess this is how this particular one works - I haven’t done it!), and AI generates a caricature image.

The thing that keeps frustrating me, and confusing me (I’m not even sure what it is that I feel about it) is that of the ones I’ve seen, AI keeps giving people extra hands. The picture looks kind of normal - apart from usually AI makes people look thinner, and more plastic-y, which definitely makes me feel annoyed and sad - but then there’s also an additional, misplaced rogue hand. What the…?

Is it some test to see if people even notice?

Is it meant to imply that in order to do all these things that we’re doing, we really need more tools (aka hands) to do it?

Or is it just AI being AI and we chalk it up to the fact that it can’t do everything right?

As ever, I’m probably over-thinking it.

I happened to read today in Kristin Neff’s book Fierce Self-Compassion, about the Buddhist goddess of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. When she is depicted, she has “many arms, each holding a different instrument to alleviate suffering.” In East Asian traditions, she is revered as the “Goddess of Mercy.”

It got me thinking, about ways to respond to the calls for help in the world right now. I sometimes wish I had more time, more ways to respond to the pain and challenges in the world, while still being someone who, like everyone, has limits in terms of my time, energy, and resources.

Maybe all these extra hands in these cartoon pictures are subtle encouragements for us to be more like Avalokiteshvara. Open to see, hear, and respond to what’s going on with a sense of possibility.

I doubt that’s it, but it’s the meaning I’m making up to give myself a little boost of hope today.

What can I do, with the resources I have, to be in a world that is calling out for help?

How to be more Avalokiteshvara in a world of AI

Want your virtual meetings to feel easier? Turn off your self-view