When AI Gives You Everything - What's Left? - Kristina Walcker-Mayer

Episode von Insanely Human - KI, Alltag und das, was dazwischen liegt. von Steffi Kieffer · 2. Juli 2026 · 57 min

What happens when everything you can "have" — knowledge, titles, careers — gets devalued by AI? Kristina Walcker-Mayer works in AI and found a book at a flea market in Mecklenburg that she hasn't been able to let go of: Erich Fromm's "To Have or To Be" from the 1970s.

Her thesis: AI is accelerating the having crisis and we don't have a replacement.

A conversation that starts with philosophy and ends with the question of whether we're heading straight for Idiocracy. Kristina brings a rare combination: she works with AI products daily and is simultaneously writing a book about why exactly that is dangerous.

An episode for anyone who senses that AI isn't just changing jobs, but something more fundamental — our relationship with ourselves.

What we discuss:

Having vs. Being: Why your LinkedIn title says nothing about you — and AI is exposing that right now

The dinner story: One guy quotes the right book for everything. A woman asks: "But what do YOU think?" Silence.

AI-optimized CVs screened by AI — the absurd loop

AI girlfriends: Why always getting what you need destroys your ability to handle real relationships

The Cuba experiment: Two exhibitions, one real, one AI-generated. Could you tell the difference?

Voluntary friction as the new luxury: Cooking risotto, running marathons, finding books at flea markets

Why the having mode is heading into a crisis — with no replacement in sight

Meditation as having vs. meditation as being: Are you doing it for productivity or for yourself?

Guest: Kristina Walcker-Mayer

Kristina Walcker-Mayer has over 16 years in digital product leadership — from N26 and Zalando to CEO of Nuri, which she steered through both hypergrowth and crisis. Today she is Chief Product Officer at Aily Labs, building AI-driven decision intelligence systems for complex organizations.

Her years in tech and leadership have pulled her toward a deeper question: what does it mean to be human when AI takes over more and more of what we used to "have"? Drawing on Erich Fromm's distinction between having and being, she explores whether technology moves us toward a more being-oriented life or makes us lose access to it altogether. She's currently writing a book about exactly that.

Find her on Linkedin

Steffi Kieffer

Founder "The AI Retreat" | Keynote Speaker | Female Voice in AI

Website: https://www.steffikieffer.ai/

Newsletter (DE): https://human-ai-gym.beehiiv.com/

Substack (EN): https://substack.com/@steffikieffer

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steffikieffer/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ai.innovation.steffi/

The AI Retreat — KI-Workshops in den Alpen: https://www.theairetreat.com/

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