AI as Mirror, Not Compass
Why CoreSelf Mapping Still Matters in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
What the Latest Research Tells Us
In 2025, multiple studies converged on a powerful insight: People are using AI to feel better, not just to do more.
An April 2025 Harvard Business Review article by Marc Zao-Sanders revealed that the #1 global use case for generative AI was therapy and companionship, not content creation, not coding.
A March 2025 joint study by OpenAI and MIT found that increased time spent with AI correlates with greater loneliness and decreased social connection.
A June 2025 MIT study confirmed that while AI boosts productivity, it also reduces creativity, critical thinking, and personal motivation.
In short: AI is becoming a mirror, but not a compass.
What AI Can Do Well
AI excels at summarizing, reframing, and reflecting. It is, in many ways, The Great Affirmer.
It can:
- Organize your ideas
- Offer comforting language
- Draft suggestions and plans
- Provide a steady, nonjudgmental “listener”
But no matter how advanced, AI still can’t answer the deeper question:
“How can I move closer to where I want to be?”
That’s not a data problem—it’s a direction problem. And it requires something only you have access to.
The Compass Within: Your Internal Observer
Inside your mind is a quiet, powerful guide:
Your Internal Observer.
This part of your consciousness knows:
- Your values
- Your story—past, present, and possible
- What you’re capable of
- When something feels off, even if it looks right
This is the internal faculty that CoreSelf Mapping (CSM) activates.
What CoreSelf Mapping Actually Does
CSM is not therapy, though many say it feels therapeutic.
It’s a brief, visual alignment tool that asks:
- Where am I?
- Where do I want to be?
And in asking those two questions:
- It slows the mental swirl.
- It reconnects you to meaning and energy.
- It creates safe, forward movement.
Why CSM Still Matters—Even in an AI World
Recent data shows a strong trend toward external seeking:
- AI use is increasing for emotional validation.
- Curiosity and reflection are decreasing.
- Emotional and relational alignment is being outsourced.
But here’s what CSM uniquely provides:
- It is an inner process that meets an outer challenge.
- It brings in external tools (like AI) to serve internal direction.
- It builds positive movement in personal and professional situations.
- It expands from personal clarity into collaborative momentum via CoreSelf Positioning (CSP).
In short: CSM reconnects the self to itself—so tools like AI serve the journey, not define it.
Using AI + CSM Together
When used intentionally, AI and CoreSelf Mapping (CSM) create a powerful partnership:
| Use AI to… | Use CSM to… |
| Draft, summarize, simulate | Reflect, realign, and prioritize |
| Explore options | Choose best next steps that align with your values |
| Create external structure | Leverage external resources with your inner resources and compass |
| Brainstorm or rehearse messaging | Clarify intention and motivation |
CSM is the alignment layer—the internal check-in that makes external action meaningful.
Final Thought
AI can give you options.
Only your Internal Observer can give you direction.
In a time when people are moving faster but feeling more disconnected, CoreSelf Mapping offers the pause that realigns you with purpose.
AI is a mirror.
Your Internal Observer is the compass.
And CSM helps you read it—clearly, calmly, and effectively.
Try CoreSelf Mapping today or read CoreSelf Positioning, the book.
About the Authors
Jonathan Thomas, MSW
Whether at the potter's wheel, coaching medical professionals and teams, or in his private counseling practice, Jonathan Thomas has spent his life molding, shaping and creating something beautiful and new.
Tim Preston
As a successful serial-entrepreneur and angel investor, Tim Preston has spent the majority of his life learning, overcoming, and creating, from blank pieces of paper: self, spaces, teams, and businesses.
Together, Jonathan and Tim founded Simple. Not Easy., LLC, a company that developed CoreSelf Positioning™ tools to help companies and individuals to slow down and align energy levels, values, and actions in order to formulate their best next steps.
Learn more about Jonathan, Tim & CoreSelf Positioning.