The Loose Leash and the Thinking Machine
Walking with Sage one morning, I caught myself doing something I often do. I was talking to her about the path we were taking.
“Let’s go this way.”
“Easy… stay on the trail.”
Sage was walking freely beside me. After years together, she doesn’t need constant direction. She knows the rhythm of the walk. She stays within range, glances back occasionally, and adjusts when my tone changes.
It’s not control.
It’s a connection.
Working with AI has started to feel surprisingly similar.
Most people approach AI like a tight leash. They give a command, wait for a response, and then issue another command.
“Write this.”
“Explain that.”
“Fix this.”
It works, but it isn’t much of a partnership.
Something different happens when you spend time with the system. The interaction becomes less like issuing commands and more like walking together along a trail.
You think out loud.
You explore an idea.
You test a direction.
The AI reflects the thought back, sometimes pointing toward another path you might not have noticed.
The important thing is that neither side is pulling constantly.
The direction still comes from the human.
The AI simply helps keep the path visible.
That’s where the real value appears. It’s not just faster answers. It’s the quiet reduction of friction in thinking. Instead of wandering through possibilities alone, you have something beside you helping illuminate the terrain.
Even when the answer isn’t perfect, the presence of a thinking companion reduces the uncertainty of the search.
Sage does something similar on our walks. She doesn’t need constant commands. A word here, a small correction there, and we continue.
The leash may still exist somewhere.
But most of the time, it hangs loosely between us.
Two travelers are moving in the same direction.
0 comments