“I Think Therefore I Am” Friday musings on AI and humans overly relying on AI.

Well, it’s a good thing Descartes isn’t around to see how much AI has taken over our capacity for thinking. 😊 

Anyone who has used AI for content (whether in L&D or any other field) for any length of time can attest to the following: 

• Cookie cutter output – In the earlier days, it seemed magic to have AI spit out content on any topic. It was viewed as a magic wand being used to bring in efficiencies. But then the cracks began to show. Probably because by then AI content was beginning to look nauseatingly similar. Regardless of the modality. The human touch made it impactful. 
•  A steady Oatmeal diet – While AI did cover the basics of a topic, it lacked heart. It became increasingly easy to spot AI generated content. There was a homogeneity, a sameness that one couldn’t consume forever without getting sick of it. Like oatmeal. Bland.  
• Intellectual laziness – Then came the real danger. Once we began to realize how much AI could help us, instead of using it like an assistant, we began to outsource all our work to it. The result? Laziness setting in before we even began to realize the dangers of over dependence on AI. It probably took a lousy output or two to put the brakes on our slide down that slippery slope of over-dependence on AI.  
• Lack of Authenticity – Well the fact is, we see so many ideas every day and if any of them resonate with what we think, it is human to extrapolate on it (like this post for instance, that was triggered by this great quote I came across in my feed “Don’t outsource your thinking to AI”.) And the same can happen with AI-generated ideas. But if we are not careful, soon, instead of leveraging AI as an assistant to help us flesh out our thoughts, and brainstorm ideas based on an idea originating in our minds, we will start using AI in such a way as to diminish our own authenticity as people. That spark in us that makes us uniquely ‘us’ can begin to get engulfed in the blazing fire that AI could create and we could end up thinking it was all us. A sure inching towards the dark side of the force (pardon the  Star Wars analogy!).  
• A Lingering Sense of Unease about Over-Reliance – deep down those overly relying on AI for creative tasks run the risk of beginning to disconnect with themselves. That touch of whimsy, that “me-ism”, that way of saying something that is uniquely us can starts being gobbled up and while the AI output is unbeatable when it comes to volume and sometimes even quality (provided the prompts are intelligent!), overdependence can create a sense of letting ourselves down by removing the joy of creating something original and meaningful. Yes, not everything has to be a work of art. Business realities are all about numbers. But they are also about impact. And this is where AI does more justice to the former than to the latter if we are not careful about doing our own thinking first.

I’m sure most of us in the learning design space agree that Learning Design is both an art and a science. When it comes to engaging our minds, and truly unleash our problem solving and innovative thinking capacity, I’d like to quote from a book on the concept of Deep Work by Cal Newport. While what he says is in the context of greater productivity, found it apt for this topic as well. “Deep work' is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. Human beings, it seems, are at their best when immersed deeply in something challenging.”  

This is something that AI can’t do for us. Sure, it can take over repeated, routine tasks, it can even recommend solutions, it can, in fact, even create music and art, but when it comes to our own minds - thinking is a muscle that we use to be fulfilled. And it can atrophy with disuse by an over-reliance on AI. There are nuances, emotion, a touch of whimsy, and depth than an AI generated output can’t match.   

Am I anti-AI? Far from it. I love it! There is no doubt that AI has brought in efficiencies of scale and speed through its diverse use, especially in L&D. And we deliver terrific results as an organization that uses AI based tools in course authoring and all aspects of design and development. And I am a huge advocate for their use. But when it comes to certain human skills/traits such as conceptualizing, solutioning, problem-solving, empathy, creativity, and other priceless human traits, are we letting the use of AI dumb us down? Are we heading towards a dystopian version of ourselves? Those are sobering questions we need to ask. We owe it to ourselves.  

Do you agree/disagree? Would love to hear your thoughts! 

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