• AI makes it harder for humans to relate to one another, but a recent experience has changed my mind.
• When fed the right information, maybe AI writing our love notes is helpful.
• Perhaps AI has the potential to enhance rather than replace human connection.

As a geriatric millennial and a licensed psychologist, I often lament technological changes that I see as threatening to human interactions, such as AI.

Even though I try to find the gray in all areas of life, I've been rather black-and-white about AI because I worry it's diminishing our ability to relate to one another.

However, a recent experience with my husband has made me more curious about AI.

My husband used AI for our wedding anniversary card

We recently celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary, and unbeknownst to me at the time, my husband used GenAI to write my card. He was traveling at the time, so he sent flowers and chocolate, with a card attached. The flowers were severely underwhelming, and I'm not just being a brat. My husband even called the company upon returning to express his frustration with how different they appeared in person.

But when I read the note accompanying the tiny arrangement, I teared up right away. It was heartwarming, meaningful, and really on the nose.

My husband's lack of romantic effusiveness has historically been frustrating to me. He has made steady progress in this area, and even ending cards with "love" more frequently marks such improvement. So, this note felt in line with his desire to share more emotionality, and I was touched that he'd taken that step just because he knew it would make me happy.

I have feelings about AI

My husband knows about my big feelings about AI, and he shares many of them. It seems like everyone relies on ChatGPT for relationship advice, and the most common use of META AI right now is to ask for guidance about difficult conversations with loved ones or bosses. I see it in my therapy practice all the time, and I'm skeptical about how sound the AI advice my clients receive actually is.

So, when I, a historically staunch critic of all things AI, found out that my husband had used ChatGPT to create our anniversary card, I admit I had some strong feelings.

As lacking in the sentimental department as my husband can be, I am at the opposite end of the spectrum — a hopeless romantic, as they say. I save just about every card I get, tucked into a neat little box. When I reread my husband's card before putting it away, I found myself lingering on some of the words. "…life we built together" especially sat with me. It's a common phrase, but it's not in my husband's emotional lexicon. It almost sounded like somebody else's voice. And given that we can't go more than a few days without reading about how AI will ruin people's ability to think for themselves, I had that thought. "Did AI write one of the sweetest parts of my anniversary card?"

I was delicate. I reiterated how much I'd enjoyed our belated anniversary celebration before I asked: "Did you use AI to write our anniversary card?" He copped to it, grinning from ear to ear.

Shockingly to me, I wasn't mad. This discovery actually opened a door for us to talk about how useful it is to get a little help writing a card. The pre-printed messages often feel overly mushy, and the "blank inside" cards ask us to get vulnerable in expressing our emotions. For many, including my husband, that's incredibly difficult. The result is often a message that neither the giver nor the receiver feels particularly happy about.

But this year's note was perfectly balanced. The right amount of gush without the melodrama. I felt seen, and I felt it captured our relationship well.

Perhaps AI doesn't have to replace human connection after all

If AI can help people express their love for one another, that can't be a bad thing, right? Besides, is asking ChatGPT for help any less authentic than using a pre-printed Hallmark message? ChatGPT provided more accurate information about our relationship than a Hallmark writer ever could, and it offered guidance for a note that made me feel loved and appreciated.

While the idea of a world in which chatbots replace our friends and therapists is still deeply concerning to me, this recent experience has helped me find the gray in my previously black-and-white view: I don't know that I'll ever come around to AI replacing human connection, but I do see the utility now in using AI to help us enhance our existing human connections.

At the very least, I look forward to more anniversaries with really accurate love notes.

• I never went to college and never believed a degree was required for success.
• My oldest now supports herself through college as a server and is preparing for medical school.
• Although she's taking a different path, I'm proud of what I've taught her.

I was surprised when my daughter told me she wanted not only to attend college but also to pursue medical school. She even planned out her prerequisite classes, residency, and potential debt.

In our house, we rarely talked about college because I never went. My husband also only did a few semesters at community college.

Higher education was never a requirement in our house. I never expected my daughters to enroll and take on student loan debt because I found a path to entrepreneurship without all of that.

And yet, both of my daughters want to go to college, and I respect their decision.

I followed in my mom's footsteps by becoming an entrepreneur

My mom has been a salon owner in Baltimore for over 35 years. The salon was my after-school program, my social circle, and my introduction to business. I learned early that work is more than a paycheck. It is the foundation for the kind of life you want to live.

My mom didn't talk about freedom in a motivational sense. She lived it. She set her own schedule and ran the business in a way that made sense for her. Watching that shaped me more than any degree ever could.

When I graduated from high school and had my first child at 18, I didn't even consider college — not because I felt incapable. I simply didn't believe a traditional route was required to build the life that I envisioned for myself.

My mom taught me how to work hard, how to serve people well, and how to think independently. I built my early adulthood on those values and eventually became an entrepreneur myself, returning to my mother's salon as a co-owner. Everything I learned about resilience, money, and adaptability came from living real life, not writing dissertations about it in a lecture hall.

I never pushed college on my kids

The lessons my daughters absorbed from me were not about degrees. The lessons were more about self-discipline and financial awareness. I taught them how to budget. I taught them how to track their spending. I taught them why credit matters and how debt can limit your life before adulthood even begins.

When my oldest turned 16 and got her first job, she learned to manage money the same way I did. She made mistakes, then corrected them. She saved. She budgeted. She paid attention. Now she supports herself as a server while attending college using financial aid and cash she earns. She files her own taxes. She pays her own bills. She manages tuition payment plans with intention instead of fear.

Watching her handle her life this way reminds me that independence is a muscle; if you teach your kids how to use it, they grow strong without you having to push.

My youngest, now a high school senior, is also preparing for college. She has a different personality but the same drive. She does her research. She looks up scholarships. She treats her future like something she is shaping, rather than something that is happening to her. I see two young women who understand the financial reality of higher education but aren't intimidated by it.

I'm happy my kids are taking their own paths

There is immense pride in the fact that my daughters are finding their own way in life, but there is also a quiet ache. You spend years pouring into your children. Then, suddenly, you are watching them become adults who no longer want to live the life you envisioned for them.

Avoiding college debt gave me a certain kind of freedom. Teaching my daughters about money and independence gave them the freedom to make choices. Seeing them use those choices to stretch beyond my experiences feels like the true return on everything I poured into them.

The goal was never to avoid college. It was about creating a foundation strong enough for them to choose their own direction. Watching them do that is the greatest return on investment I could ever receive.

• I found ways to make traveling more affordable for my family of five.
• I use credit card points and book trips with other families to reduce hotel and food costs.
• I also started a travel fund and tuck money away every month.

I used to scroll through friends' glamorous-looking vacation photos and feel a familiar pang, knowing there was no way my family could afford trips like that. But I didn't want to stew in jealousy, so I decided to figure out how we could travel more on our budget.

I started by prioritizing more local trips

Since some of my favorite travel memories aren't from far-off places but from day adventures or quick weekend trips, I learned to prioritize them in our calendar. Mini vacations are cheaper — no flights, rental cars, time off work, or dog sitters needed, since we generally bring our dog on these trips or leave her with the neighbor.

We live in Arizona, so we schedule hiking excursions with friends to Sedona's Red Rocks or other scenic areas at least once every few months. We also visit my parents, who live an hour and a half north of us, enjoying their cooler weather and small-town charm.

However, I don't want my family to miss out on exploring beyond our little bubble, so my next tactical move was to maximize credit card points.

My friend taught me how to maximize credit card points

I'd earned free flights and hotels before, but my friend showed me I had more to learn.

Over the past two years, I've signed up for credit cards when the point offers looked too good to pass up. I often book under my friend's referral link, so we both earn bonuses. My husband then signs up using mine, and we add each other as authorized users, often for extra points.

I currently have nine credit cards. It sounds intimidating, but it's manageable as I never add more than one sign-up bonus at a time. Closing cards can ding your credit score, so I phase them out slowly.

Some, though, I'll keep long-term, like my Sapphire card with its zero foreign transaction fees and great travel partners, and my Southwest card, which allows me to book flights with my Rapid Rewards points and offers one free checked bag for myself and up to eight guests.

Because the Sapphire card's points can be transferred to Southwest, I was able to combine them and book a flight for my family of five to Washington, D.C., this summer. The flight cost me 130,000 Rapid Rewards points, which is about $1,300. The only thing I paid out of pocket was the $56 in security fees. Then I used 78,914 introductory points from my husband's new Sapphire Chase card, valued at $788, to pay for half of our five-night hotel stay in Georgetown. In total, I saved around $2000.

One caveat: I always pay my credit cards off monthly. I want to be the one benefiting — not the credit card company.

Booking trips with family and friends makes travel more memorable and affordable

We often split hotels or Airbnbs with family or friends. Sharing costs makes trips more economical and usually more fun. We plan meals together, too, when the place we're staying has a kitchen, which further cuts costs.

I discovered that when new properties are listed on Airbnb, the first few stays are often discounted to drive more bookings and garner reviews. We've stayed in some upgraded places using this tactic. On an upcoming trip to Europe, I found a two-bedroom flat in London's city center with only a few reviews, offering a better deal at $970 for four nights, while many nearby properties were $1,300 or more.

I search for the best deals on transportation

While in Europe, we plan to take trains to and from a few cities. I was shocked by train costs. That's how I found Omio, which helped me compare, purchase, and store tickets for train, bus, and ferry trips in one place, saving me time and money.

When traveling, we rely on public transportation if the city is well-connected, only hopping in a rideshare or taxi if we are worn out. If we do need a rental car, I usually check a few companies to find the best deal, as rates can vary significantly.

On a seven-day trip to Maui in 2024, I found the best deal by booking directly with Alamo through my Sapphire rewards program. I secured a Chrysler Pacifica for 48,989 points, which equates to around $490.

I decide when to splurge and when to save

My dad's vacation rule: splurge on a nice hotel for a few nights, then switch to budget options. Admittedly, I am scarred by that one cockroach-infested motel he booked when I was 11, so I never go too budget. Still, I like his thinking. If we're traveling to multiple cities, we often take this approach, staying in one nicer place and then offsetting it with something more budget-friendly in the next.

Even with hacks, traveling is an expensive undertaking. Tucking money into a vacation fund every month helps, and staying strategic is key. For me, experiencing new places as a family is worth prioritizing.

• Zahydie Burgos's husband was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease at the age of 46.
• Her parents moved into their home to help care for their son-in-law.
• It's allowed Burgos to stay in her job, but still enjoy what may be a limited time left with him.

This story is based on a conversation with Zahydie Burgos, 41, a licensed psychologist from Orlando. It has been edited for length and clarity.

My husband, Francisco — known as Pako — has always been professional, kind, and considerate to everyone.

However, in the fall of 2020, I began to notice changes in his behavior, including skipping meals, struggling to find the right words in conversation, and difficulties managing his finances.

I called him the human calculator because he had been in charge of our income and outgoings from before we got married in 2010, but all of a sudden, he would buy strange things.

Amazon trucks drove up to our house 3 or 4 times a day

We're not into hockey, but he'd go on the internet and buy tons of hockey merchandise that we'd never wear. "It's on sale," he told me. Amazon trucks drove up to our house three or four times a day.

He also ordered expensive artwork online. It was costing a fortune, and we were running out of walls to hang it on.

Pako worked as a lawyer for the federal government, but despite being one of the strongest candidates on paper for promotion, he'd fall short during the interview.

Initially, I attributed it to the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. We thought it was depression, and I got him the best psychiatrist and a therapist. Even though the psychiatrist changed his medication around 15 times, nothing worked, and he was getting worse.

The communication in our marriage changed

If he were making an appointment over the phone, the other person would likely become impatient because he had difficulty explaining what he wanted.

Once, he was due to meet me at a doctor's office, where we often went. It should have been a 10-minute drive, but he got terribly lost. He stopped the car to describe his surroundings, and I was able to guide him there.

I'd been his princess for 17 years, but he changed the way he communicated with me. He'd snap at me. We had never fought before. "This shouldn't happen in a marriage," I thought.

Then, during the last week of December 2021, he went to an eye appointment. The doctor called and said, "You need to come in." He'd detected an abnormality and thought Pako might have a brain tumor.

We took him for an MRI and, to our relief, it wasn't a tumor. However, there was bad news. The scan showed that his brain was atrophied and looked like that of an 80-year-old man.

I was in denial when we were first told

They said we needed to see a neurologist as soon as possible. She studied the scans and the reports from Pako's psychiatrist and therapist. Then she asked if his judgment had changed. I explained the issues from the past year or so.

She diagnosed him with Alzheimer's disease on January 28, 2022. I was a hot mess; in denial. l said, "How can that be? He's only 46." She explained that it was an early onset.

Pako's face was frozen, then he said, "I knew it." His father died from Alzheimer's in 2012 at the age of 70. He'd watched his decline.

The diagnosis was confirmed at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore after Pako underwent tests, including a lumbar puncture. His condition was genetic.

We informed only his eldest brother, a cardiologist, and my parents. We needed a year of mostly silence to grieve in our own way. I must have cried every day.

Still, we were encouraged by breakthroughs in the treatment of Alzheimer's in its early stages. Pako, now 50, has been on a medication named Lequembi since the spring of 2023. He has also participated in a clinical trial of a drug called Etalanetug for the last two years.

I care for my husband as much as possible, but I work full-time

There wasn't even a conversation before Mom and Dad, who retired in their 60s, moved into our house in Orlando. They relocated from their home in Puerto Rico soon after the diagnosis.

My 74-year-old father, Roberto, walks 30,000 steps a day. He says that he wants to stay fit to support Pako and me. It's mostly due to my parents that I can work full-time, while also caring for my husband whenever possible.

He can feed and bathe himself, even though he is progressing. He requires supervision, especially when he is outside the house, where there are no cameras to monitor him.

My parents are very respectful of boundaries and refrain from intervening in his affairs. But they make sure he is eating or taking his medication when I'm not there.

We felt it was time to share the news with the rest of our family in February 2023. They became our village. Pako's siblings visit often to spend time with him and take care of appointments I'm unable to attend. His 85-year-old mom calls every day from Puerto Rico.

I advocate for awareness of Alzheimer's disease

Members of the family have even joined us on our "bucket list" tours to ensure we make the most of every moment together. We've visited places such as Athens, Greece, and Venice, Italy.

Pako's diagnosis has upended our lives, but it has also been empowering. I advocate for carers like us, people with Alzheimer's, and raise awareness about early detection via Us Against Alzheimer's.

Most of all, I'm grateful for the support of our relatives who have made sacrifices for Pako and me. Their love and dedication mean a great deal.

• Ukraine's drone schools are preparing operators to fight against Russia.
• The drone fight develops rapidly, with new tactics and drone types always emerging.
• Schools say they're always updating their teaching, as often as every two weeks.

The Ukrainian drone schools training operators for war are having to rewrite their lessons as fast as every other week to get students ready for an ever-changing battlefield.

Within the drone battle, a critically important aspect of this war, tech and tactics are shifting rapidly. Three drone schools told Business Insider that it's imperative they keep their lessons up to date because it's life or death on the battlefield.

To maintain relevance and the tactical edge, the instructors are visiting the front regularly, keeping in touch with former students, and testing out new technology to shape their curriculum.

A race to stay on top

Tetyana, a Ukrainian veteran who goes by the call sign "Ruda" and is now the head of R&D for Dronarium, a drone training school with sites in Kyiv and Lviv, told Business Insider that changes sometimes take place every two weeks.

At the front, the evolution of technology is "moving forward at a very fast pace." It means that "also we have to be very fast in our adaptability."

Dmytro Slediuk, head of the education department at Dronarium, told BI that "we continuously make changes to our training programs."

For the most part, he said, no two lectures on the same subject are exactly the same; something is always changing. Over 16,000 students have trained at the school. Their comments and experiences are reflected in the training program curriculum, Slediuk said. Instructors also visit the front lines, and service members come to the school, where they deliver insight into the latest in warfighting.

There are also group chats with soldiers, Tetyana said. It's two-way communication, with soldiers sharing front-line feedback and instructors providing guidance and advice.

Vitalii Pervak, CEO of another training school, Karlsson, Karas & Associates, said that it is absolutely vital that schools teach what is informed by and needed for the field.

"We do not teach things that will not be necessary in combat," he said. "We constantly update our instructors' knowledge," occasionally with visits to the front to "see firsthand what has changed, what remains relevant, and what can be discarded."

Viktor Taran, the CEO of the Kruk Drones UAV training center, told Business Insider that all students are in group chats with their instructors, and that connection is preserved after the training is complete. "Cadets go to the front line, type questions in those chats, or provide information about new enemy tactics."

New information is added to the courses, with some topics updated every three months, he said.

A rapidly changing fight

Drone strikes are responsible for most front-line hits and casualties, with both sides using them in lieu of traditional weaponry.

The result is constant modifications to how they are used and their tactics, as well as the drones themselves, with new types frequently entering the battlefield.

Luke Pollard, the UK's armed forces minister, said this year that Western militaries risk becoming outdated. He said drone warfare is evolving so fast that "we have to fundamentally challenge our assumptions."

He said that drone technology in Ukraine "iterates every two to three weeks on the front line," while NATO militaries "build and procure really expensive high-end bits of kit. And it will take you five, 10 years: five years to run a procurement challenge, another 10 years to build it." At that rate, the system may already be obsolete by the time it's ready for war.

Defense companies watching Ukraine can see the speed of change, too, and are moving quickly to make changes. Matt McCrann, CEO of the US arm of Droneshield, a company making counter-drone systems for the US and Europe, recently told Business Insider that weapon development cycles are shifting from months and years to weeks.

Companies are regularly engaging in approaches similar to the drone schools — chats with soldiers and even front-line visits — to keep their understanding of warfighting demands up to date. Some companies have previously told BI that the ways Ukrainians are using tech have come as a surprise, so that communication and engagement are critical.

Gediminas Guoba, the CEO of Lithuanian company Granta Autonomy, which has drones in Ukraine, told Business Insider over the summer that he visits the battlefield himself "just to understand how it really works" and see what changes need to be made to its products to keep them relevant.

And it's beneficial for soldiers too, sparking faster iteration. Ukrainian drone operators have told Business Insider that they keep in touch with companies making their drones to give them feedback on how they can be improved, as well as to get things like replacement parts.

From the companies making drones to the troops using them to the schools training operators, everyone is rushing to maintain the edge, but the schools are not simply fighting to stay on top of changes. Targeted by Russian attacks and often seeking donations to help fund the training, they're fighting for survival as well.

• When I gave birth to my son, my partner and I moved in with my mom for support.
• I struggled with mental health after giving birth, and my mom was there to help without judgment.
• I'm so glad I chose to live in a multigenerational household as a new mom.

I always imagined postpartum life as something I could manage with a bit of determination and the new glow of motherly instinct. But I realized I was wrong when I had my baby at 24.

I didn't go through the whole nesting process. My hormones didn't entice me to establish a homely space with my partner. In reality, I felt unprepared and unsure.

What I truly wanted was to be with my mom. How else was I supposed to survive the most fragile chapter of my life? Moving into my mom's house with my partner and our newborn son was a no-brainer.

It didn't just give us a roof over our heads; it completely reshaped the way I viewed multigenerational living.

I struggled with my mental health after giving birth

If my mom hadn't been there — literally in the next room, ready to step in before I even knew that I needed help — I don't know how my life would look today.

After giving birth, I struggled. I felt like I was drifting. I didn't want to leave the house, take my son for walks, or even leave my bed. I struggled to come to terms with the fact that life had changed, and I wasn't the same person anymore. Despite the immense love I had for my baby, everything felt dim. There was a strange mix of tenderness and numbness.

While I was dealing with my own internal struggles, my partner tried his best, despite the fact that he was also overwhelmed and unsure of what he was doing. My mum immediately became the steady rhythm on days that felt chaotic and unpredictable.

My mom was there to help me through all of it

She noticed things I didn't know how to voice — new mom anxieties that I hid behind smiles, moments when my strength was wearing thin. She didn't ask for explanations or lecture me on how to cope. She simply showed up, again and again, filling the gaps with patience, love, and practical help.

She cooked meals for us every single day, making sure we ate even when we were too tired to think about food. She took my son two or three nights a week in the beginning, giving my partner and me a chance to have uninterrupted sleep. She bottle-fed him, rocked him, and soothed him. She loved him with the same tenderness she showed my brothers and me when we were babies.

Bath time became her ritual. She handled it with ease and warmth, cooing gently at my son while he kicked the water, his tiny face recognising the woman who played a huge role in raising him. Watching her care for him reminded me that I wasn't alone, that being a mother didn't mean I had to carry every weight myself.

Every milestone he hit, like eating solids, teething, and potty training, she knew exactly what to do and was always on hand for a demonstration or advice. I never had to overthink things or worry about doing the wrong thing. She was always right beside me.

Most importantly, she reminded me that needing support didn't make me a lesser mother. In her presence, I felt safe.

The multi-generational household helped me become a new mom

I remember reading an article in The Atlantic about how the idea of a nuclear family structure is a mistake, and I wholeheartedly agree.

How did we go from the old dynamic of "all hands on deck" — grandparents and grandchildren living in the same household with other family members — to the fragmented and somewhat fragile unit of just mom, dad, and children?

I'm so glad I didn't fall for that narrative in my son's early years.

Spreading out parenting responsibilities reinforces a sense of community, allowing me to actually bond with my baby without collapsing under pressure, and to slowly grow into motherhood with support rather than fear. I was healthy and happy, and above all, my baby was too.

Little by little, I came to understand that parenting isn't meant to be a solitary endeavor; when they say it takes a village, they mean it.

• Nigel Williams, BlackRock's head of talent acquisition, said applicants need to embrace AI.
• He said the investing giant is focusing on both specific AI abilities and interpersonal skills.
• Williams also shared how his office uses AI — and one mistake applicants make with the technology.

If you want to work at BlackRock, make sure you're using AI — just not too much.

Nigel Williams, BlackRock's global head of talent acquisition, said that AI is shifting his hiring priorities, and that fluency with the technology is now key to any strong application. However, he warns against depending on it in the interview process.

"We want to hire people that are curious, that understand that AI is here," he told Business Insider, especially because it's embedded in functions across the world's biggest asset manager.

The strongest applicants can demonstrate that they are both digitally native and comfortable with various AI tools, and that they're curious about future capabilities. Young talent is "upskilling itself to meet the moment," Williams said, since applicants without a computer science background often demonstrate AI proficiency. Everyone, he added, will need to have a basic understanding of prompt engineering and how to question AI outputs.

"In this age of AI, the talent skills that I think we need more than ever are people that are curious, have a questioning mindset, and are willing to not just trust what the model puts out there, but also make sure we're continuing to pressure test that," he said. Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills are also becoming even more important, he said.

Williams said that his team is figuring out how to assess applicants' AI abilities and is mindful of making sure people without tech backgrounds don't feel intimidated. He's interested in how people use the technology in their personal, academic, or work lives, and said his team is still fine-tuning how to assess that in the interview process.

Despite Williams' new focus on how applicants engage with AI, he's not using it to screen candidates. As of now, he uses AI to schedule interviews.

There's such a thing as too much AI in the application process, though.

Williams said recruiters and hiring managers have told people ahead of an interview not to use an AI tool, sometimes to little avail.

"It is quite common. You will sometimes see people looking to the left or the right. Our interviewing teams, if they're in the middle of doing that, will pick up on that and be able to say, 'Hey, we do want to make sure that you're staying focused,'" Williams said.

BlackRock employs around 24,600 people in more than 30 countries, according to a November 5 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Some 21,100 people worked at the firm as of the end of 2024, according to that year's annual report.

BlackRock has launched Asimov, an agentic AI platform for its equity business. At the annual New York Times DealBook Summit this week, its CEO, Larry Fink, said that there will be "some huge winners and huge failures" with the technology.

• When we had our son earlier this year, we decided not to post photos of his face online.
• We want our son to be able to consent to his own online presence, and he can't do that yet.
• It's been the right choice for us, though there are some challenges.

Shortly after my son was born earlier this year, my husband and I began gearing ourselves up for a potentially awkward talk with loved ones. Parents, siblings, and friends had come to meet our first baby, and naturally, they took a lot of photos. And while we knew they were eager to boast about their new grandson, nephew, or cousin, we had decided that we didn't want his face on social media.

Admittedly, it's been challenging at times — both for us, and for our loved ones. Still, we're confident that the benefits outweigh any drawbacks.

It mostly comes down to consent, but there are other considerations, too

We think our son should have a say in his digital footprint, and at this stage of his life, we aren't able to ask him whether he's OK with having an online presence. Until he can let us know how he feels about having private moments shared on social media, we don't feel comfortable making that choice for him. We'll revisit the idea of posting pictures of him once he's able to verbally consent to it.

In her book Sharenthood: Why We Should Think Before We Talk About Our Kids Online, Leah A. Plunkett — a Harvard Law School faculty member who specializes in technology law, digital privacy, and children and family law — detailed how posting photos of your kids online puts them at risk of identity theft, bullying, and harassment. It also begins to build a narrative about them, which detracts from their ability to tell their own story.

Ultimately, we found a compromise, but sometimes there are slip-ups

It felt unrealistic to expect that everyone in our son's life would refrain from posting any photos that he's included in. After all, my husband has a very large family — which means a lot of group get-togethers where numerous photos are taken. We didn't want people to feel that they couldn't share a joyful life moment just because our son happened to be in the picture.

So, we decided to only avoid posting photos where his face — or anything else that could identify him — is visible. (That means we mostly share photos where his back is turned to the camera, or we make sure an emoji has been layered over his face.)

However, there are occasional slip-ups. After a family apple-picking excursion, one family member accidentally uploaded a group photo with our son's face in it to Instagram. We didn't stress too much about it or reprimand our loved one immediately in front of the group — after all, we knew they didn't mean any harm. We just followed up with them privately to gently remind them of our policy.

They felt bad, and took the picture down. These slip-ups have happened a few times since my son was born four months ago, and I'm sure they will continue to happen in the coming years. We can't expect every single person in our lives to remember our rule every time they want to post.

We don't judge other people for sharing their children on social media

To be clear, we don't fault or criticize anyone else who does post photos of their kids online. It's only natural to have the urge to share that adorable picture of your little one learning something new or hitting a milestone. Believe me, I get it.

In fact, I'm not immune to those urges. When we did a professional photo shoot in our home a few weeks after our son was born, I felt pangs of regret that I couldn't share certain pictures online, too.

When I do feel the impulse to share recent photos and videos of my son, I turn to our family and friend group texts instead of social media. Those are the people who are most excited to stay up to date on his life, anyway. Plus, we love getting their reactions over text.

Whenever I doubt my decision, I put myself in my son's shoes.

To be honest, I don't know how I would feel if I grew up and discovered there were hundreds of photos and videos from my childhood on the internet. What if I was embarrassed by something my mom or dad shared? Fortunately, my parents never had to make that decision, because these apps didn't exist during my childhood.

Any time I start to wonder if my husband and I are making the right choice — say, when a family member seems disappointed that they can't post a cute selfie with our son — I think about how our little guy might feel 10, 15, or 20 years from now. Is he likely to be upset that we didn't share more, or relieved and grateful? I feel confident it's the latter, but only time will tell.

• 2025's words of the year reflect a generation frustrated with job prospects, AI, and online culture.
• Platforms have chosen terms like "fatigue," "AI slop," and "rage bait."
• For the first time, Dictionary.com chose a word that is also a number as its Word of the Year.

Everyone is over 2025.

Various platforms and dictionaries released their word of the year in December, and the choices widely reflect a sense of inescapable uncertainty, exhaustion, and skepticism of the tech world.

"There's no denying that 2025 has been a year defined by questions around who we truly are," said Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages, "both online and offline."

From early-career job seekers stuck in unemployment, to social media content that never seems to advance the conversation, and workers struggling to keep up with AI, here is a list of words that dictionaries and culture-watchers say encapsulate the zeitgeist of 2025.

Glassdoor: 'Fatigue'

Workers are tired, according to job search platform Glassdoor.

The site that allows workers to post reviews of companies they have worked for or interviewed with coined "fatigue" as its word of the year, after the term saw a 41% spike in mentions across the platform in 2025.

Glassdoor cited how job seekers are growing increasingly frustrated with endless applications that go nowhere, and how emotionally exhausted workers are with the rapid rise of AI.

When Glassdoor asked professionals if they felt like the news cycle was draining their energy at work, 78% said yes. On top of that, job seekers are becoming increasingly frustrated as more "job huggers" hold onto their positions in a low-hire, low-fire job market.

In an ironic admonition, Glassdoor wrote, "Yes, things could be better, but they could also be much worse."

Collins Dictionary: 'Vibe coding'

"Vibe coding," a term coined by Andrej Karpathy, a prominent AI researcher, refers to the use of natural language prompts to instruct AI to write computer code instead of writing it from scratch.

Collins said that its word of the year and its contenders mark a "further shift towards a tech-dominated world."

According to OpenAI's annual enterprise report, code-related queries increased 36% for workers whose primary job is not engineering. Companies like Anthropic also said that its in-house AI, Claude, is now writing 90% of code for its teams.

Oxford Dictionary: 'Rage bait'

If you ever feel so angry over online content that you feel compelled to repost it and give the comment section a piece of your mindyou may have encountered the Oxford Dictionary's word of the year: "rage bait."

Oxford defined the word as "online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement."

According to Oxford's data, the use of "rage bait" has tripled in 2025 compared to the year before, hinting at "a deeper shift in how we talk about attention — both how it is given and how it is sought after."

Cambridge Dictionary: 'Parasocial'

Many people seem unable to quit social media. And that could be largely due to "parasocial" relationships, which Cambridge Dictionary coined as word of the year.

The term refers to one-sided "relationships that people form with celebrities, influencers, and AI chatbots," Cambridge Dictionary wrote.

For example, how fans often feel a deep connection to Taylor Swift's lyrics about heartbreak, to the spontaneity of podcast hosts, and the "emotionally meaningful" and "in some cases troubling" connection between users and AI chatbots.

Business Insider has documented various instances where people become emotionally dependent on an AI model or form long-term relationships with AI girlfriends. The release of AI companions by platforms like Grock, including a flirtatious anime girl, can increase the likelihood of such parasocial relationships.

Macquarie Dictionary: 'AI slop'

The Australian English dictionary chose "AI slop" as its top word of the year, highlighting concern over "low-quality content created by generative AI, often containing errors, and not requested by the user."

The rise of AI-generated content has contributed to longer and more annoying memos at work that don't actually push productivity forward, as well as tricked some news platforms into publishing inaccurate information, such as when the Chicago Sun-Times published an AI-generated summer reading list that matched real authors with books they never wrote.

"While in recent years we've learnt to become search engineers to find meaningful information, we now need to become prompt engineers in order to wade through the AI slop," said the Macquarie Dictionary Committee.

Dictionary.com: '67'

Dictionary.com chose a numeral — the number 67 — as its word of the year, for the first time since the site started naming word of the year in 2010.

The word, pronounced "six seven" instead of "sixty-seven," experienced a dramatic rise in search volume since the summer of 2025 and increased more than sixfold since June, said Dictionary.com.

Described as "meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical," Dictionary.com said it thinks this word means "so-so" or "maybe this, maybe that," which makes some sense if you're rating something a six or seven out of 10.

"If you're a member of Gen Alpha," Dictionary.com added, "maybe you're smirking at the thought of adults once again struggling to make sense of your notoriously slippery slang."

• Harsh Varshney has worked in privacy and Chrome AI security at Google.
• He's cautious about what he shares with AI chatbots to protect himself from cybercriminals.
• He advises using well known AI tools and treating chatbots like a public postcard.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 31-year-old Harsh Varshney, who works at Google and lives in New York. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

AI has quickly become a silent partner in our daily lives, and I can't imagine life without AI tools.

Day-to-day, they help me with deep research, note-taking, coding, and online searches.

But my job means I'm very aware of the privacy concerns associated with using AI. I've worked at Google since 2023 and spent two years as a software engineer on the privacy team, building infrastructure to protect user data. I then switched to the Chrome AI security team, where I help secure Google Chrome from malicious threats, like hackers and those who use AI agents to conduct phishing campaigns.

AI models use data to generate helpful responses, and we users need to protect our private information so that harmful entities, like cybercriminals and data brokers, can't access it.

Here are four habits I've made that I believe are essential for protecting my data while using AI.

Treat AI like a public postcard

Sometimes, a false sense of intimacy with AI can lead people to share information online that they never would otherwise. AI companies may have employees who work on improving the privacy aspects of their models, but it's not advisable to share credit card details, Social Security numbers, your home address, personal medical history, or other personally identifiable information with AI chatbots.

Depending on the version being used, the information shared with public AI chatbots can be used to train future models and generate responses that are more relevant. This could result in "training leakage," where the model memorizes personal information about one user and later regurgitates it in responses to another. Plus, there's the risk of data breaches, which would expose what you've shared with a chatbot.

I treat AI chatbots like a public postcard. If I wouldn't write a piece of information on a postcard that could be seen by anyone, I wouldn't share it with a public AI tool. I'm not confident about how my data could be used for future training.

Know which 'room' you're in

It's important to identify whether you're using a more public AI tool or an enterprise-grade one.

While it's uncertain how conversations are used for training public AI models, companies can pay for "enterprise" models. Here, models aren't typically meant to train on user conversations, so it's safer for employees to talk about their work and company projects.

Think of it like having a conversation in a crowded coffee shop where you could be overheard, versus a confidential meeting in your office that stays within the room.

There have reportedly been instances where employees have accidentally leaked company data to ChatGPT. If you work on unreleased company projects or are trying to get a patent, you probably don't want to discuss your plans with a non-enterprise-grade chatbot due to the risk of leakage.

I don't discuss projects I'm working on at Google with public chatbots. Instead, I use an enterprise model, even for tasks as small as editing a work email. I'm much more comfortable sharing my information because my conversations aren't used for training, but I still minimize the personal information I share.

Delete your history regularly

AI chatbots usually keep a history of your conversations, but I recommend deleting it on both enterprise and public models regularly to protect your user privacy in the long term. Due to the risk of your account being compromised, it's a good precautionary habit to have, even if you're confident you aren't putting private data into the tools.

Once, I was surprised that an enterprise Gemini chatbot was able to tell me my exact address, even though I didn't remember sharing it. It turned out, I had previously asked it to help me refine an email, which included my address. Because the tool has long-term memory features, enabling it to remember information from previous conversations, it could identify what my address was and retain it.

Sometimes, if I'm searching for things I don't want the chatbot to remember, I'll use a special mode, a bit like incognito mode, where the bots don't store my history or use the information to train models. ChatGPT and Gemini call this the "temporary chat" feature.

Use well-known AI tools

It's better to use AI tools that are well-known and are more likely to have clear privacy frameworks and other guardrails in place.

Other than Google's products, I like to use OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude.

It's also helpful to review the privacy policies of any tools you use. Sometimes, they'll explain more about how your data is used to train the model. In the privacy settings, you can also look for a section with the option to "improve the model for everyone." By making sure that setting is turned off, you're preventing your conversations from being used for training.

AI technology is incredibly powerful, but we must be cautious to ensure our data and identities are safe when we use it.

Do you have a story to share about using AI to help you at work? Contact this reporter at ccheong@businessinsider.com