To ______ is Human

“To err is human, to forgive is divine.”

This is a quote from Alexander Pope’s poem, An Essay on Criticism (which I had to look up because I mistakenly thought it was from Shakespeare). Regardless, I wonder if Pope realized when he penned that, how ubiquitous the phrase would become.

Today more than ever it seems people are saying “oops, I failed - see, proof that I’m human!”

Almost as if we are clamoring to claim our humanity in an increasingly robotic-world.

We like to believe our failures make us human. That we’re loveable despite being fallible. That it’s endearing to mess up and move on.

And while those things may all be true, failure is no longer a humans-only game. Ever have a conversation with ChatGPT? Yeah, it’s known to make mistakes from time to time.

In 2026, I think that to err is operational.

To notice is human.

Because what happens when ChatGPT makes a mistake? It does nothing except sit there, asserting its position. It waits, for you, dear human, to act upon it.

You see, we are the prompters. We have the opportunity, agency, and responsibility to engage in metacognition - observing our failures and being forthcoming with them. We don’t require an outside force to twist our arms into admitting our wrongs.

While uncomfortable to acknowledge, our mis-steps are just part of operating in human form. ChatGPT has them too. But our ability to observe and take independent, unprompted action - that is human.

So, can we all commit to saying the uncomfy part out loud? “I messed up! Here’s how I’m handling that.” Because that is the marker of our humanity.

-Jessica