Everyone has a line they won't let AI cross. But most people don't know exactly where it is until someone asks.

In our first episode, Sean and Matthew sit down with Jes —instructional designer at West Chester University and EdD candidate researching AI policy in higher education—to find out where her line is. What starts as a conversation about brainstorming and event copy turns into something more interesting: a candid look at the anxiety of not knowing whether your AI use is okay, the difference between what people say their line is versus where it actually lives, and whether using Gemini to fix your tone in a heated work email is something you'd ever admit to.

Along the way: Heidegger's ready-to-hand and present-at-hand, the secretary analogy nobody expected, a mom who thinks ChatGPT is lying to her about Bible verses, and the question of how many R's are in the word "strawberry."

In the debrief, Sean and Matthew notice that Jess's articulated line—rooted in policy language—might not be her real line at all. Her real line seems to be about protecting something she actually loves: the creative work of designing learning experiences. That gap between what we say and what we're actually protecting might be the whole show.

The Line is a podcast about where AI ends and humanity begins—and why that boundary keeps moving.

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