# Man and Machine: The \#Mirror

![Man and Machine: The \#Mirror](/writing/man-and-machine/the-mirror/assets/hero.jpg)

Building an AI forced me to understand myself\.

To configure Steve's personality, I had to write down my communication  
preferences\. How I like information structured\. What tone I respond  
to\. When I want detail and when I want a summary\.

To build his memory system, I had to define what matters to me\. Which  
emails are urgent\. Which meetings need prep\. Which health metrics I  
actually care about\.

To set his guardrails, I had to articulate my values\. What should he  
do without asking\. What requires my approval\. Where the line sits  
between helpful and intrusive\.

I've been a CEO for years\. I've managed hundreds of people\. And I've  
never been forced to codify my own operating system this precisely\.

Turns out, most of us run on autopilot\. We have preferences we've  
never stated\. Priorities we've never ranked\. Boundaries we've never  
defined\. We just react\.

Building an AI is like writing an owner's manual for yourself\. And the  
manual is more useful than the AI\.

The biggest thing I've learned from this project isn't about  
technology\. It's about self\-awareness\.

What would your owner's manual say? Let's talk \-dg

\#ManAndMachine \#CFO Dwolla \#AI \#CIO \#Leadership \#Dwolla \#SelfAwareness

## Sources

- [Original LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7430731837699682304/)