Human Flourishing in the Age of AI

In a world where AI is increasingly “solving” for cognitive intelligence—eliminating many sources of friction, but also creating new challenges—what will it mean for individual humans to live a meaningful life? Drawing on “AI for Human Flourishing,” a Stanford Graduate School of Business course originally co-created by Jennifer Aaker and Fei-Fei Li, this case follows 40 students as they explore that profound question. Students began by formulating their own definition of human flourishing—each anchored in a shared understanding that flourishing is not simply the absence of hardship, but lies in turning adversity into fuel for personal growth, professional success, and broader impact. Each student then created their own AI tools to support flourishing in a specific area of their lives, testing emerging technologies’ ability not just to eliminate friction, but to help people live with agency, creativity, and purpose—and to extend those benefits outward to their organizations, communities, and society. Working alongside experts including Astro Teller, Arianna Huffington, and Demis Hassabis, and drawing on Dr. Aaker’s own research on the way people construct meaning at the end of their lives, students explored AI’s potential as a mirror that reveals who we are and who we might become. What emerged surprised even the instructors. AI proved most powerful not when it gave answers, but when it helped students to ask better questions; AI cleared away obstacles, but to find meaning, each student had to walk their own individual path. The case opens the classroom to this journey—to share what happened when students stopped asking “How do I use AI?” and started asking “What kind of life do I want to build?”