What Happens When AI Gets Personal?
This is the conversation we need for soulful, safe AI
You’re not imagining it: AI is becoming a confidante for everyday life.
In OpenAI’s 2025 consumer-use study, ~70% of conversations were personal, not business.
In other words, most people aren’t asking AI for spreadsheets or code.
They’re asking it about their lives.
But when it comes to something as intimate as self-care, relationships, or purpose…
How do we keep AI soulful, safe, and human?
Why I Care
In 2018, my body called BS on my life.
I was running on hustle fumes, proving, perfecting, powering through like it was my job description.
That burnout is what pushed me to step away after 16 years at Stanford and take a soulbbatical.
I rebuilt my life and work around one mission:
Help women step off the treadmill of overdoing and create success on their own terms.
Which is exactly why I can’t ignore what’s happening with AI.
The very same women who are most exhausted may soon be leaning on AI for support. And yet, I’ve seen firsthand, as the creator of my own soulful AI service, how few standards exist to ensure those interactions are safe or emotionally supportive.
It’s still the Wild West.
If we’re not careful, AI could end up fueling the same hustle patterns we’re trying to escape unless we set guardrails that keep it soulful, safe, and truly supportive.
What Women Are Wondering
When I asked a group of midlife women about AI, their answers revealed both curiosity and hesitation:
“I’m curious, but I worry about my privacy.”
“I want the support, but I don’t know if I can trust it.”
“I keep hearing about AI, but where do I even start?”
That tension is why I’m writing Soulful AI Guardrails: a 4-part series on how to use AI without losing what makes us whole.
How Women Are Already Using AI
Since launching Meredith AI Coach, I’ve seen women use AI in deeply human ways:
Recovering from burnout and practicing self-care
Supporting loved ones through caregiving
Shifting their business mindset
Setting boundaries without guilt
Balancing work and family demands
Facing fears about aging
Discovering post-retirement purpose
Untangling after a hard conversation
These aren’t productivity problems.
They’re soul problems.
And that’s why a soulful approach to AI matters.
The Soulful AI Guardrails
Here’s the truth: AI is still in its infancy for personal growth.
The speed of change is exponential. The tools we play with today could shape how we process emotions, make decisions, and relate to ourselves tomorrow.
We need guardrails. Not just technical ones, but soulful ones.
Over the next issues, I’ll share the 4 Soulful Guardrails for AI:
💥 Safety
🙌 Simplicity
🧡 Humanity
🔥 Integrity
Each is a way to use AI wisely, without losing what makes you whole.
Your Guide to Get Started
I’ve put together a Soulful AI Guardrails Guide that not only outlines the 4 guardrails but also lists the top thought leaders to follow in this space.
👉 Get your copy here → https://link.pauseboxco.com/Soulful-AI-Guide
Your Turn - Join The Conversation
AI isn’t just shaping our work.
It’s shaping us.
If we’re going to invite it into our lives, into questions of burnout, purpose, boundaries, or love, let’s do it with wisdom.
The future we need isn’t just more AI, it’s more soul.
I’d love to hear from you:
✨Do you feel more curious or more cautious about using AI in your personal life?
✨If you could set one soulful guardrail for AI, what would it be?
+Big Love,
Meredith
P.S. October is all about Soulful AI Guardrails: the 4 principles I believe every woman needs when AI gets personal. If you’re craving more soulful leadership practices, browse the Nothing To Prove Ritual archive here — your weekly pause + reset awaits.
What Are You Really Waiting For?
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♻️ Restack to share with your network.
👉 Browse the Ritual — a weekly practice to pause, reset, and realign→ https://link.pauseboxco.com/substack
