SALT LAKE CITY - TelAve -- A new website is asking the question most AI coverage ignores: what do regular people actually think about it?

The AI Watercooler (aiwatercooler.org) is a simple, anonymous platform where everyday humans share their current take on the direction of AI — Cool or Concerning — and why. Once they submit, they are able to see how their opinion compares to others. No "smart" answers required, just honest ones.

The public conversation about AI is largely dominated by two camps, neither of which includes the everyday people most affected by it. The pro-AI camp tells employees: "This is just like Internet. Learn AI and don't worry." The AI safety camp focuses on policy and guardrails to prevent existential risk.

Both are expert-led and don't represent the everyday people living alongside AI with no syllabus and no real voice. "Most of us have this sense that the figurative company is about to be acquired and there's absolutely no plan for change management," said Emily Burnett, the writer behind the project.

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When AI does get covered through an everyday lens, it's usually by experts in AI development or safety — people arguably more protected from its consequences than most and whose advice can feel superficial or detached from reality. As Burnett says, "When it comes to navigating something this new, we're all winging it. Even the experts. Your own opinions on AI and navigating it are just as valid as those of any expert."

For those who are interested in more than sharing their opinion and reading those of others, the companion Stay Human newsletter extends the conversation beyond the site. "I am genuinely interested in AI safety, and yet even I don't read most safety newsletters. The concerns they surface are real, but we're not meant to live in a state of existential crisis."

The goal of the Stay Human newsletter is not to persuade readers to anything other than navigating life and AI intentionally. It's to facilitate conversation from multiple, non-expert viewpoints and get us thinking about humaning in an AI age.

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Burnett is excited to shift the conversation around AI to be one full of life. "It's so much more than a technology conversation. It's a conversation about what makes life so worthwhile, and preserving what makes us so wonderfully human."

The AI Watercooler is free, anonymous, and open to any human with an opinion.

About

The AI Watercooler was created by Emily Burnett, an author and humorist whose work focuses on what makes life cool and people interesting. https://aiwatercooler.org. The Stay Human newsletter is available by subscription at the same address.