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Standing Out In The Age of AI

I watched a webinar yesterday hosted by Stephen Klein, the Founder of Curiouser.AI  This webinar focused on how to stand out in the age of AI. 

AI has none of the following:

  • Authenticity

  • Judgement

  • Or Values

So why are we comparing ourselves to computers? 

Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

We have access to information now at our fingertips.  What we know is no longer a differentiator.  Information is given to us at the speed of light now.  So in this new reality and chapter we find ourselves in, how do we stand out??

We stand out by:

  • Trust

  • Integrity

  • Authenticity

  • Exceptional Judgement

AND

We use AI to drive our thinking.

My take away the webinar is this – we stand out on the things that can’t be measured – human things like character, values and our integrity. 

Not finding ways to differentiate ourselves is going to keep us average and NOT memorable.

I saw this quote in the chat that I think bears repeating here:

There has always been a gap between the leading of technology and social processes.  Digital just makes that gap widen, faster. 

There is so much truth in this. 

I am certainly not saying that technology (in this case, AI) is bad. 

But what I am saying is that when you use technology in a way that doesn’t augment yourself, you become average pretty quickly.  If you aren’t growing and learning, you won’t have new ideas and both your creativity and thinking will be stifled. 

Yes, thinking is hard.  But IT IS the oil that’s needed to turn the gears of innovation and progress.

Look at what’s happening across multiple social channels.  Pangram, a company that has developed an AI Content Checking platform conducted a study of content across several social media channels.  The key findings are:

  • One in four longform posts on social media were flagged as fully AI-generated

  • Of all posts that Pangram flagged as AI-generated, two-thirds came from LinkedIn

  • Nearly half of X/Twitter articles contained AI writing

LinkedIn was the worse offender.  Over 44,350 posts, 40.5% were AI generated.  And on top of this nearly 2/3 (62%) of ALL the content was flagged as either AI only or the content had some AI generated elements in it.

Compared to Reddit, Pangram scanned replies to Reddit posts. The found that over 266,678 replies, only 1.7% of the replies were AI generated.

When we chose to offload our thinking to AI (i.e., cognitive offloading), we risk losing, or at a minimum, significantly losing our ability to think critically, reduce opportunity for active recall and problem-solving acumen.

A scientific paper in the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central shows that AI is rapidly transforming learning. The paper discusses the impacts of AI on:

  • Memory retention

  • Problem-solving

  • Critical thinking and

  • Creativity

The overall finding is that AI is negatively impacting students in these areas.

The key findings from this paper include:

  • AI enhances accessibility in education but weakens overall retention if overused.

  • Students passively accept the information provided to them which in turn reduces cognitive engagement

  • Students who over-relied on AI suggestions had lower creative confidence in their ideas.

The key takeaways from this should be that the AI should support individuals and help drive their thinking.  AI shouldn’t be used as a replacement FOR thinking.

So what can we do? 

  • If you have ideas, think through them.  Write them down and mull them over in your mind.  THEN use AI to challenge your ideas.  Have AI but the supporter, the critic, and the skeptic.

  • Read.  Read. Read – and then READ some more.  Reading expands our thinking, improves cognitive ability and cultivates ideas and creativity.  Take what you’ve read and use AI as a sparring partner to help you cultivate new ideas. 

  • Continue learning deeply.  AI doesn’t have the morals, values and judgement that you possess.

  • Let AI extend your thinking rather than replace it.  You are the expert with experience and judgement that AI doesn’t have.  Don’t allow AI to reteach you how to think. 

Perhaps we’ve been making the wrong assumptions and asking the wrong questions all along.  There is no doubt that AI is a disruptive technology.  But I don’t think we should be afraid that AI is going to replace us.  We should focus on what makes us human (i.e., our character, value, integrity and creativity) and use AI to not replace our thinking but to drive the way we think so that we can continue to build and innovate.  We have a responsibility to ourselves and others to focus on being human and our uniqueness.  If we do this, we will always be relevant while technology (including AI) supports us.

Until next time - Remember Jeremiah 29:11 and GLU