What if your AI anxiety isn’t a flaw, but a signal to evolve how you work? In this episode, I sit down with Lee Gonzales, engineering leader and creator of BetterUp’s AI Flight School, to talk about why AI feels existential, why it threatens your craft and identity, and how you can move from fear to agency. We dive into how psychological safety, values, and collective sensemaking help people shift from “AI will replace me” to “AI can expand me.” Tune in if you’re ready to move from avoidance to informed action and become the pilot of your AI future, not the passenger.
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In this Episode, You Will Learn
00:00 Why AI anxiety pushed Lee to reinvent his entire career.
04:45 How AI differs from every prior technological leap.
08:00 What distinguishes an “AI passenger” from an “AI pilot”?
10:00 Is the agency real or a helpful illusion?
14:45 Why psychological safety is the first requirement for AI learning.
18:03 How to reframe anxiety into possibility using values and task design.
22:15 Why AI can weaken your cognitive muscles if you’re not careful.
25:15 The values-based exercise that helps you understand your resistance.
28:45 Why engineers struggle with AI’s impact on the craft they love.30:30 What AlphaGo teaches us about self-learning systems and exponential change.
32:00 How prompting helps people reflect on values and reclaim agency.
34:15 Lee’s “aha” moment from Flight School participants.
36:00 Why AI can feel like an “infinite agency machine” when used well.
Resources + Links
Get a copy of my book - The Anxious Achiever
Watch the podcast on YouTube
Find more resources on our website morraam.com
Follow
Follow me: on LinkedIn @morraaronsmele + Instagram @morraam
Follow Lee on LinkedIn: @leegonzales
