What's in a Name? Why Words Matter When Labeling AI (and Ourselves)

We, as a society, have a naming problem.

I was scrolling LinkedIn the other day and stumbled on a post by Zoe Scaman that put words to something I've been circling for a while. When it comes to AI, every label we use doesn't seem to quite get it right.

For example:

• Assistant still carries the faint humiliation of that Microsoft paperclip, eager and useless. Sorry, Clippy.

• Intelligence turns software into a synthetic person, and invites the good old projection and delusion combo.

• Tool is clever misdirection. It frames this as something passive, something you control, while users quietly build habits, dependencies, relationships, and so on

• Chat, which now is just short for ChatGPT is the most egregious one. The machine is not you friend, stop giving it a nickname.

The post even went as far as to reference Rumpelstiltskin (kids that read Brothers Grimm, unite!) and Egyptian mythology. This theme shows up everywhere for a reason: names, titles, whatever you call it (ha! see what I did there) are not a descriptors of anything. They in fact, activate it. Get the word right and the spell breaks. Get it wrong and you cast one.

Naming and Labels and Me

This is one of the reasons why I'm obsessive about words when building a brand. And yes, I mean all words: internal language, external messaging, all of it. A name restricts you because it describes be manufacturing it It defines what feels possible, acceptable, inevitable.

This same tension lives in how we label ourselves. I used to hate labels because mine never fit. I was always trying everything, learning everything, doing everything, just taking it all in.

I went from mergers and acquisitions at a law firm to... well, merging everything I could get my hands on. Corporate strategy one year, Christmas in Antarctica with astronauts the next. Business school, then VIP concierge at the Olympics. My education and roles overlapped and contradicted each other. Nothing added up in a way that fit cleanly on paper.

Lucy (Van Pelt) in the sky with diamonds

Who is Lucy Machado?

Adding the naming and labels was one of the bits I struggled with the most when building this website. What am I? At one point, I almost gave up and added "Everything Everywhere, All At Once" under my name.

Multi-hyphenate sounds flattering until you realize it still relies entirely on the imagination of the person reading it, not on reality. Every label is a box, regardless of how elegant the typography. The fact is: one of my greatest strengths is adaptability. I like fast pivots, and I work for the ability to move, which you can't do if you're in a box.

On this website, I did add the classic subheading with a few words about what I do and who I am: "Cross-Sector Strategy, Brand Narratives & Storytelling, Experience Design." I'm still thinking about it*.

*Side Note: By the time you're reading this, the above subheading may have already changed.

If we must name something, we'd better be careful. The moment you name it, you've decided its limits. This goes for AI systems and people alike: the right word describes wha it is and shapes what it can become.

For now, just call me Lucy.