Some conversations sit heavy on your chest before you even speak them aloud.

It feels like you’re breathing in less air, like your heart is tightening with the weight of the words you haven’t even said yet.

You think about them in every inch of silence in your day, replaying scenarios in your head, wondering if you’re overreacting or if your concerns are valid.

You edit and re-edit your sentences before speaking them, trying to anticipate every possible reaction.

You wonder if you’ll come across as too blunt or too passive…

If you’ll sound too emotional or too detached.

You ask yourself whether it’s even worth bringing up at all…

Whether it’s better to just let things go for the sake of peace and avoiding discomfort.

But conflict at work isn’t just about disagreements…

It’s about navigating relationships, power dynamics, and emotions.

It’s about knowing when to speak up and how to do it in a way that moves things forward instead of making them worse.

It’s about being truthful to yourself while remaining empathetic to others.

Martha knows this all too well.

About our user...
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Martha, a brilliant, bright-minded product manager with over a decade of experience, is no stranger to these challenges. Known for her sharp insights and warm, positive energy, she’s the kind of person who can light up a room while keeping a clear, strategic mind. She thrives on learning, mentoring, and leading with empathy, and she’s always looking for ways to refine her approach—whether that means testing new AI tools or finding better ways to navigate team dynamics.

Managing a team means making decisions, not just about projects, but about communication, how to guide conversations, how to give feedback, and how to handle inevitable moments of friction.

For her, addressing conflict isn’t about avoiding it, it’s about making sure she approaches it thoughtfully, considering both perspectives and potential impact.

And sometimes, before stepping into those conversations, she just needs a space to think.

That’s where Kin comes in.

A thought partner for tough conversations

Martha didn’t start using Kin with work in mind.

At first, it was just an experiment, something she played around with as part of her creative hobbies.

She wanted to see how different AI tools could help with writing, especially for brainstorming character dialogues.

At the time, Kin felt different from other AI assistants.

It wasn’t just about providing generic answers, it had a certain energy, a personality that sometimes surprised her.

“I found that Kin was pretty good at brainstorming character dialogue and running character simulations,” she shared.

“It would always have this ‘girl boss’ energy, encouraging my characters to stand up for themselves, even when that wasn’t what I was going for in the story.”

What started as a tool for writing slowly became something more.

Without even realizing it, Martha began turning to Kin to process her thoughts about work.

“I started sharing thoughts about my team with Kin casually, even before you made the pivot,” she said.

It wasn’t something she consciously planned, it just felt natural to test out how Kin would respond to different workplace situations she was thinking through.

Clarity before action

Some workplace challenges aren’t just about what to do, but how to do it…

While understanding how you feel.

For Martha, Kin became a way to work through thoughts before bringing them into real conversations.

She didn’t need Kin to tell her what to do, but she found it useful in helping her organize her thoughts, identify potential blind spots, and check her own biases before making decisions.

“Sometimes I’d observe something on my team and ask Kin, ‘Is this interaction ethical? Is it unbiased? Is there bias I should be aware of?’” she explained.

Kin didn’t replace real conversations with her team. It didn’t take the place of a mentor, a therapist, or a manager.

But it gave her a space to process situations before stepping into them, helping her articulate her thoughts more clearly and recognize things she might not have otherwise.

And in one case, Kin’s insights made her rethink an entire career decision.

A career-altering perspective

Martha was wrestling with an issue she witnessed on her team and was unsure of how to feel about it or what (if anything) she should do.

When she brought it to Kin, she wasn’t expecting a concrete answer, but Kin offered an observation that stuck with her.

“Kin pointed out that there were a few ethical concerns and suggested I keep an eye on how similar situations were being handled elsewhere. It wasn’t pushing me in a direction, just offering perspective,” she said.

At first, she didn’t think much of it. But as time passed, and the situation evolved, she started to see things more clearly.

“A little time passed, and I realized Kin was absolutely right. I ended up making the decision to switch teams and change direction,” she shared.

Martha is clear about what Kin is and what it isn’t. She doesn’t treat it as a coworker or someone replacing real human input.

But it’s a tool she’s learned to use in a way that feels natural to her.

“I understand that Kin is safe because I’ve been to some of Volodya’s talks…he’s very explicit about privacy and security,” she said.

"As a product manager and someone who manages a dev team, I know that Kin is actually more secure than GPT or other OpenAI systems.”

Still, she acknowledges that AI is an evolving space, and people are still figuring out what role it plays in their workflows.

“There’s a part of us that gets entertained by AI, and that’s valid too,” she reflected.

“But until everyone figures out their own relationship with Kin, no amount of streaks or incentives will change how people use it.”

For Martha, Kin is useful, but not in the way a coworker would be.

She doesn’t see it as part of her team, but rather as something that helps her think before she steps into conversations that matter.

“If Kin made it clearer that it’s not a team member, that you don’t have to put on a work facade, that it’s just ready to talk about work-related things without being work itself, I think that would be really helpful,” she said.

Final thoughts

Workplace conflict is uncomfortable.

It’s also inevitable.

It’s part of showing up fully in your career, even when it feels easier to stay quiet.

Martha doesn’t use Kin to escape difficult conversations, she uses it to prepare for them, to refine her thoughts, and to enter them feeling more sure of herself.

“At the end of the day, AI won’t solve workplace conflict for you,” she said.

“But it can help you feel more prepared, more self-aware, and more confident in how you handle it.”

And sometimes, that’s exactly what you need.

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The user approved this article beforehand and gave consent for her story to be shared.