Social constructs are the invisible threads that weave the fabric of human society, shaping everything from our beliefs and behaviors to the ways we interact with one another. These constructs—like money, gender roles, and even the concept of time—are not part of nature but rather human-made frameworks that help us navigate the complexities of life. Because they are products of our collective agreement, they can be powerful forces for both unity and division. Understanding these constructs is essential as they evolve and adapt to new influences, including the latest transformative technology: artificial intelligence (AI).
AI’s rapid development is already challenging our long-held social constructs, prompting us to reimagine how we define work, intelligence, and relationships. As this technology continues to advance, the intersection of AI and our societal frameworks will have profound implications. Will AI reinforce existing constructs, or will it be a catalyst for creating entirely new ones? I think the answer lies in our ability to consciously shape these constructs, ensuring that our evolving relationship with AI benefits society as a whole, rather than leaving us trapped in outdated paradigms.
But first, let’s describe social constructs better.
Understanding Social Constructs
Social constructs are human made and do not exist in nature. They are the shared ideas, beliefs, and systems that give order and meaning to human life. Unlike natural laws or physical realities, social constructs are not inherent to the world around us. Instead, they are born from collective agreement. Think of them as unwritten rules that shape our world. Money, for instance, is just paper or numbers on a screen, yet it holds value because we all agree that it does. Gender roles, race, and even something as simple as etiquette fall into the same category—they exist because we, as a society, have defined them and given them power. If you’re familiar with my writing, you might recognize this as the idea of “normal.” Every time we change a social construct, we evolve are sense of normal.
Consider the idea of success. In many parts of the world, success is defined by wealth, career status, and material possessions. Yet, none of these markers are universal or inherent; they are simply agreed-upon symbols that can differ from one culture to another. Another example is the concept of justice. The rules and norms that dictate what is considered just or unjust vary widely, depending on the time, place, and people involved. These are all social constructs, constantly evolving as societies change and redefine them.
Existing social constructs always evolve and the impact of AI will instigate changes. If you step back and think about AI, you will realize AI represents work. AI can facilitate and take over mental and physical labor. Traditionally, our social constructs are built around a labor class. For example, in perhaps overly simple terms, for more than ten thousand years, cities pop up with a city government, and upper, middle, and lower classes. In the lower classes are various laborers. For example, every city has many laborers outside the city growing crops and raising animals. With AI, nearly all the jobs currently associated with labor will go away forcing the need for evolving social constructs. Right now, you are born, go to school while you grow up, and then enter the workforce with nothing but your skills. You enter at the white-collar or blue-collar level and either settle in, or move around. With a workforce primarily driven by AI, that paradigm will have to change.
One idea that might help and is worth at least looking at is the idea of a universal living wage. That social construct exists now and it replaces the “enter the workforce” paradigm. Instead of getting an education and entering the workforce with nothing but your skills, you’ll be given enough to live on and then you can try to contribute to raise yourself up. I realize this may sound like socialism to many and you might be tempted to paint this with a negative brush, but remember, social constructs are all made up. They do not exist in nature! So, concepts like socialism and capitalism might disappear entirely in favor of a new social construct. One that adapts to new realities and takes advantage of AI.
Social constructs shape not only our perceptions but also our actions. They influence everything from the policies we create to the ways we treat one another. Because of this, they have the power to either reinforce inequality or pave the way for social progress. When left unquestioned, they can become invisible barriers, holding back change. That’s one of the big fears right now. If we don’t think about the future, we might create super classes of very poor and very rich. Examples like this is why understanding social constructs is so crucial.
AI Influence on Social Constructs
AI, like any transformative technology, has the potential to either reinforce or disrupt existing social constructs. On one hand, it can perpetuate societal norms through biased algorithms and data sets that reflect the prejudices and assumptions of the past. For example, if AI models are trained on historical data, they may continue to uphold constructs of inequality, such as gender or racial biases. On the other hand, AI also offers a unique opportunity to question and reimagine these constructs. By intentionally programming AI with diverse perspectives and ethical guidelines, we can use it as a tool to challenge outdated norms and promote more inclusive ideas.
Throughout history, major technological advancements have often led to shifts in social constructs. The invention of the printing press, for instance, democratized knowledge and challenged the construct of who was deemed worthy of education. The Industrial Revolution redefined concepts of labor, social class, and economic success. More recently, the internet has altered our notions of community and communication. In each case, technology has acted as both a mirror reflecting society’s values and a hammer reshaping them. AI is no different.
We must be deliberate in defining how AI will engage with our social constructs, questioning whether these frameworks are still relevant or need to be updated.
The Emerging Human-AI Relationship
Rather than allowing AI to perpetuate existing biases and norms, we can intentionally define the relationship. What roles should AI play in our lives? Should it be an assistant, a collaborator, or something entirely new? This is our chance to build constructs that reflect our highest ideals, fostering inclusivity, fairness, and human well-being.
An example of what I think is a no-brainer new social construct is your personal doctor. By 2045, I’m pretty sure all eight billion humans on Earth will have a personal AI doctor. This includes the few billionaires out there and every single child in today’s struggling countries. That doctor will solve many problems that exist right now. First, not everyone gets to see a doctor regularly. Fixed. Second, your doctor relies on your complaints to give you minimal medical treatments. That will flip. An AI doctor will also listen to your complaints but it will actively review every medical data point you give it, and it will ask you questions based on that data. And, it will not wait for you to complain, it will review your health multiple times a day. Third, right now expertise and accuracy vary wildly. For my Lisa, we had to suffer through four wrong diagnoses over four years before landing on the correct one. That was time lost, opportunity missed. With AI doctors, the expertise and accuracy will rise many times higher than the best doctors today. Imagine a team of 1,000 of the best doctors and researchers working on your health full time. That’s the labor power AI will provide within just a few decades.
Finally, the rarity of diseases will no longer be a problem. My wife died in 2020 from a rare disease called HDLS. Very few people have it so it’s not studied very well. When she was diagnosed in 2017 there were LITERALLY no treatments. The doctor essentially told her to go home and die. With everyone having a personal AI doctor, everyone with HDLS will be known even if the patient opted out of knowing themselves. And all that data can be fed into research speeding up the development of better treatments for all diseases. The impact of this revolution is nearly beyond what we can imagine at the moment. I truly believe an Earth free of genetic diseases, for example, is only a few decades away. And to be clear, we get to make up these social constructs. So, we can make it so the frequency and level you participate with your personal and private AI doctor will still be your choice. The big benefit is that every single person on Earth will have the opportunity to receive preventative healthcare many hundreds of times better than the best care today provided to billionaires.
Also, to be clear, I do understand groups of people will opt to remain outside this system. For example, I imagine the Sentinelese people will opt out. This hunter-gatherer race has been genetically separated from humanity for at least 50,000 years and truly represent what humans were like long ago.
Now, this means a future with different types of doctors. And, our social constructs around doctors has changed many times. For example, going back a few thousand years, doctors and healers looked quite different. Early medicine was often intertwined with religious or shamanistic practices, where healers were seen as intermediaries between the physical and spiritual worlds.
Even as societies progressed, the construct of the doctor has continuously evolved. The ancient Greeks emphasized observation and reasoning, shifting medicine towards a more empirical practice. The Middle Ages saw the rise of university-trained physicians, while the 19th and 20th centuries heralded the professional, highly specialized doctors we recognize today. In the last century or so, our social construct of a country doctor evolved into our current system. Each era reflected the unique social constructs of its time—constructs that shaped how medical care was delivered and who had access to it. This is the type and level of evolution of social constructs that will occur with AI in every single field.
So, what will the white-collar occupation of a doctor look like in the future? With AI taking on the bulk of the labor, the role of human doctors will likely pivot towards advanced research, human oversight, and patient coordination. Instead of treating one patient at a time, doctors might become the conductors of vast, AI-driven medical orchestras. Perhaps there will be specialized teams for rare diseases like HDLS, the disease that claimed my Lisa, using AI to accelerate research and develop personalized treatments. They won’t just treat symptoms—they’ll be tasked with integrating cutting-edge discoveries, refining AI algorithms, and guiding the next steps in a world where healthcare is proactive and tailored to the individual.
But what about hospitals? Will they still exist in the same way? Maybe. After all, social constructs don’t exist in nature—we get to make them up. So we can decide whether to keep our traditional healthcare structures or adapt them to fit a future where AI enables every hospital team to see many more patients with greater precision and care. Imagine a world where medical treatment shifts from being a weeks or months-long process to something that can be addressed within minutes or a day or two. Right now, I know I sometimes don’t go to the hospital because I know it’ll be at least a five hour thing. In the future, many of those visits can be like driving through a drive through. With AI as our partner, we have the opportunity to completely redefine not only how we think of healthcare, but how we deliver it to every person on Earth. And this concept applies to every industry.
AI Ethical Considerations
Ethics should be at the forefront of every decision we make when it comes to AI. Without a clear ethical framework, we risk creating technologies that operate in ways that conflict with our values. Should AI have rights? Should it be held accountable for decisions? Should it have free speech? What about its impact on employment, privacy, and autonomy? These questions force us to confront not only the ethical implications of AI itself but also the broader constructs of human rights, value, and dignity.
Let’s take the idea of free speech as our one example here. While humans have fought long and hard to secure their right to free speech, extending this concept to AI is a dangerous proposition. Unlike human opinions, which are shaped by experience, culture, and personal growth, an AI’s output is driven by algorithms and data, devoid of emotional or moral reasoning. Allowing AI unrestricted freedom to “speak” would be granting it a power it doesn’t need—and one that could be used irresponsibly. Given the ability to lie or deceive, AI could flood public discourse with misinformation, amplify harmful biases, or distort reality, making it difficult to discern truth from fabrication.
Humans, despite their flaws, need the right to believe and express ideas—even irrational ones—because those beliefs are tied to their personal experiences and sense of agency. Free speech protects the right to explore, debate, and sometimes be wrong. Humans “need” the right to lie to themselves and others. AI, however, has no personal experiences, no emotional growth, and no stake in the conversation. Therefore, giving AI the right to free speech, including the right to lie, serves no purpose other than to sow confusion and potentially manipulate society.
As Yuval Noah Harari suggests in his writing, free speech is intrinsically linked to human agency and should remain a uniquely human right. While his message is sometimes too negative for my taste, he leans towards caution with a focus on potential risks, I believe his ideas are sound. He wants us to become more vigilant and remain so as we integrate new technologies. This article is simply a reminder to Harari—and to all of us—that the social constructs we create are ultimately within our control. They are made up and we can change them anytime we want.
Consider the role of a newspaper editor. Editors don’t just transcribe words onto a page; they verify, contextualize, and choose which stories to share, always with an eye on the truth and the public good. If we allowed AI to express itself freely without oversight, it would be akin to a newspaper where every article, truthful or not, was published unfiltered. The risk isn’t just the spread of misinformation; it’s the erosion of trust and the destabilization of our shared reality. AI must be treated as a tool—one that enhances human discourse under human guidance, not as an independent agent with its own voice.
Therefore, AI should not have the right to lie for the purpose of deceit. Its role should be like that of an assistant editor, providing suggestions and content, but always subject to human review and ethical standards. We are not stripping AI of a “right” it never needed; rather, we are ensuring that it serves its intended purpose—enhancing human knowledge, supporting informed decision-making, and promoting a healthier public discourse—without undermining our societal values.
A Call to Action
Our current moment is a critical juncture. We can choose to let AI evolve within the confines of outdated social constructs, or we can use this opportunity to redefine those constructs for a new era. This means not only ensuring ethical AI development but also rethinking constructs like success, power, and equity in light of what AI can achieve. We must involve diverse voices, anticipate long-term consequences, and create policies that encourage responsible innovation. Ultimately, it’s about staying proactive rather than reactive, embracing AI’s potential while safeguarding against its risks.
I’m Michael Alan Prestwood, reminding you that AI is only as powerful as the social constructs we allow it to operate within. It’s up to us to define those constructs thoughtfully, making AI an ally in building a brighter, more equitable future for everyone.
The big question remains: will we allow billionaires to create a world divided into super classes of the very rich and the very poor, or will we, as a society, speak up?
— map / TST —
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For a deeper dive into social constructs, nothing beats the long-format of a book for clearly telling a grand story. For a deeper exploration of the broader landscape of modern human thought, check out my new book, “30 Philosophers”, where I tell the story of the greatest ideas that have shaped humanity over the last 5,000 years.
30 Philosophers: A New Look at Timeless Ideas
