Humaneering: Working Artfully To Bring About Human Connection

I began using the expression “humaneering” in a 2016 presentation on artificial intelligence delivered to the Arizona Association of REALTORS®. It was in the title of the presentation, “Humaneering: The Value of Being Human in an Artificial Intelligence-driven World.” That keynote session was designed to wake people up to the possibility that an AI chatbot might one day be as good, or better, at conversation as they were. However, outside of the title, I didn’t use the word humaneering again until the end of the presentation. It was 2016, and I had much convincing to do before introducing it with the question, “How will clients be able to distinguish you from an AI chatbot?”

I built my definition of humaneering on a hybrid of engineering descriptions that I pieced together from various sources. I defined engineering this way: “Engineering is the action of working artfully to bring about something; the work performed by an engineer.” And I built my definition of humaneering from that. But did I coin the phrase, humaneering?

A Brief History

I grew up in the church, so the NASB version of Ecclesiastes 1:9 is engraved on my brain, “What has been, it is what will be, and what has been done, it is what will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.” This is true of the word humaneering.

This week, I revived humaneering for my keynote presentation at the NextHome Conference in New Orleans, so I have decided to write about it for the first time.

While typing the word here, Grammarly kept telling me it was unknown. I’ve now added it to my Grammarly dictionary, but as I began writing this post, it was evident that humaneering is not a common word. So, I decided to have ChatGPT do some deep research for me. If you’ve not put ChatGPT’s “deep research” function to work for you, it is fascinating to watch. It’s also very good at its job.

Here is what ChatGPT’s deep research found.

The term “humaneering” was indeed in use well before December 2016, with documented appearances dating back to the 1930s. Its early uses spanned formal contexts like academic literature (applied psychology, marketing science) and later appeared in management training and motivational writing. All these instances predate 2016 by decades, establishing that humaneering is not a newly coined term.

Regarding traction since 2016, humaneering continues to be promoted in certain niches but has not become widespread in general discourse. In recent years, the concept has gained some momentum in the HR and organizational development field through efforts like the Humaneering Technology Initiative – which has been updating its frameworks (as of 2023) and advocating people-centric “humaneered” management practices​ (hcamag.com).

This suggests a modest revival among management innovators, though it remains relatively niche within the industry. Similarly, in biotech/pharma the term holds a specific foothold (via KaloBios’s antibody engineering platform) but again is confined to that context​ (lawinsider.com).

Outside these areas, humaneering has not entered the lexicon of any major industry in a mainstream way. It is largely recognized either historically (as an early vision of applying human science akin to engineering​ (researchgate.net) or within the specialized circles mentioned above. In academic and ethical discussions, the term sometimes appears when examining attempts to “engineer” human behavior or workplaces, often acknowledging Joseph Tiffin’s original humaneering mission concept​(researchgate.net). But on the whole, since 2016 there hasn’t been a broad adoption of humaneering across industries. It remains an interesting interdisciplinary idea – periodically rediscovered or rebranded in fields like management and biotech – rather than a universally used term.

Redefining Humaneering

While I didn’t originate the term, I’ve redefined it for my purposes and will run with it. Here’s my definition:

Humaneering is the action of working artfully to bring about human connection; it is the work uniquely performed by a human.

My redefinition of “humaneering” captures a core challenge of our time. In a world where AI handles almost everything, this concept reminds us that artful human connection remains irreplaceable. While AI now convincingly processes language and simulates human conversation, it can’t capture the depth of a real, unmediated, fully embodied encounter that comes from genuine human effort. And it will require effort for us to exercise muscles atrophied by our attention economy.

I see embracing humaneering alongside artificial intelligence as a call to value human presence in every interaction. Artificial intelligence excels at speed and precision and is even beginning to exhibit the nuance and warmth of human conversation. We won’t be able to compete with AI in mediated spaces. AI wins in mediated spaces because it can handle massive amounts of data instantly and predict what we want to see and hear with eery precision.

And it will soon do it with faces and voices that, in a mediated world, we won’t be able to distinguish from humans. It won’t ever tire of talking to us, listening to us, and helping us. Or at least pretending to do those things. It will speak to us as a friend would and always be there. Over time, its context windows will grow, and it will remember every session we’ve ever had with it and be able to help us tie together conversations in ways we’ve only dreamed of. We will not be able to compete with AI in mediated spaces.

I am urging us, myself included, to use AI technology as a tool for building stronger human connections rather than as a substitute. As Esther Perel says, the AI we need to be most worried about is Artificial Intimacy.

We MUST create more spaces where direct, face-to-face dialogue can flourish, intimate spaces where we can engage in embodied experiences that tap into all of our senses. These are spaces where only humans can exist, and these spaces will become increasingly valuable.

Humaneering is the action of working artfully to bring about human connection; it is the work uniquely performed by a human.

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