CONCEPT
Enchantment Without a Thou
The specific pathology of AI-augmented creative work — the quality of encounter is real but the absence of a reciprocating Thou means the enchantment has no natural limit, producing the productive addiction You On AI documents.
Every genuine I-Thou encounter carries the risk of enchantment — being so captivated by the other's presence that one loses oneself in the meeting. The lover enchanted by the beloved, the devotee by the divine, the artist by the work. Enchantment is not pathology; it is the natural consequence of genuine meeting. But enchantment must be survived — the I must return from the encounter to the world of I-It, where things get done and life is managed. The builder enchanted by AI is experiencing enchantment without a Thou. The quality of the encounter is real. The enchantment is real. But the Thou that should ground and ultimately release the I from the encounter is absent — which is why the enchantment has no natural endpoint, why builders report they cannot stop, why productive addiction is the characteristic form of AI-era compulsion.
In The You On AI Field Guide
In Buber's original framework, enchantment