Will We Still See Ourselves in a World Designed by Machines?

Will We Still See Ourselves in a World Designed by Machines?

- by Doug Shannon, Expert in Artificial Intelligence

Humans are innately pre-wired to see faces: it is called pareidolia. Our brains evolved to recognize patterns that hint at life and connection, even when none are truly there. We find faces in clouds, tree bark, the front of cars, and even the brake lights and trunk lids of the ones ahead of us.

Survival, instinct, and memory are layered together, like a silent blueprint we carry. It is not just what we see, it is what we hope to see, a reminder that we are not alone. Whether intentional or not, the human touch keeps bending design back toward familiarity, toward reflections of ourselves. You can see it in how a car’s headlights and grill seem to smile or frown, and how taillights look like wide, blinking eyes in the dark.

Even the coldest machines sometimes feel warm, simply because their shapes echo patterns we were born to recognize.

Yet something fundamental is shifting.

🔹AI is not pre-wired like we are.

🔹It does not search for faces in form.

🔹It does not feel the magnetic pull of familiarity when it shapes the world.

As AI moves from assisting design to leading it, we are stepping into a future shaped by different instincts.

Designs optimized for function, not for familiarity. Structures born from logic, not longing. Interfaces that no longer whisper back a familiar smile, but instead reflect pure, calculated purpose.

“The most powerful designs are not just seen; they are felt, because they remind us who we are.”

The question is not just how the future will look. It is how it will feel. Will we still see ourselves in the world around us, or will it slowly become a mirror for something else entirely?

We are entering a future where intelligent design may no longer be human design. When the faces disappear from the objects we build, will we realize how much of meaning was never in the object, and yet, always in us?


𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲: The views within any of my posts or newsletters are not those of my employer or the employers of any contributing experts.