AI Boosters and Skeptics ... We Need to Talk
I'm getting tired of generative AI.
Or maybe, exhausted is a better word.
Exhausted by:
- The never ending stream of hype
- The talk of productivity
- The very real fear of job loss
- A lack of serious discussion around ethics and regulation
- Errors and hallucinations
- The promise of abundance
- The machine apocalypse
- The loss of certain words to AI (I'm looking at you, 'delve')
- Uncertainty about the future
And that's just the tip of the gen AI iceberg.
Deep breath ... It's a lot!
The question is: How can we ensure AI is beneficial to humans and helps us grow, rather than the opposite?
As Michael Meath might suggest, maybe now's a good time time to hit the pause button.
Balancing the Duality of AI
Many of these issues are amplified by the Duality of AI. That is, the challenge of finding an equilibrium between the positive and negative aspects of artificial intelligence—as they relate to you. (And yes, the em-dash is intentional!)
Of course, the balance is unique to your interests and goals.
Imagine the duality of AI as a giant mixing board, and your job is to perfectly calibrate the settings on a lot of controls.
Easier said than done. Unless you're a sound design engineer and have subject matter expertise.
Yet, until you get the balance right, it's hard to put things in perspective. And reach a point where you can see both the good and bad aspects of AI and figure out the best way for you to use the tools.
This is doubly challenging when you're constantly bombarded by boosters waxing on about all the time AI will save you at work, on one side. And by resistant-to-change skeptics who can't see beyond the curve of learning something new, on the other.
Then, there's matter of AI slop. Bland and cliche-ridden chatbot-generated content that's popping up on websites, search engines, pretty much everywhere.
The sad truth is machine output is as good as much of the middle of the road marketing copy you read. So why stretch your brains when you're under pressure to get the task done and the AI is good enough?
Not only that, your mind hasn't gained additional capacity to process this overabundance of information. So all the new content AI produces needs to be summarized ... another job for AI.
Soon, you and I will only be drinking AI-filtered information. Never directly from the source.
Which means AI will become the default intermediary. And take away the heavy lifting involved in synthesis, reflection and analysis that used to happen in your brain.
Getting on the Same Screen
If you outsource your most challenging cognitive tasks to AI, how can you ever make a decision about anything on your own?
To me, that's one of the biggest challenges of approaching AI as a substitute and not a talent multiplier.
Let's go back to my earlier point about the sound mixer and subject matter expertise. They have specific knowledge gained by learning and experience.
That's the road I believe we should follow: to double down on your subject matter expertise.
It doesn't matter which area you choose as long as it's something you're passionate about and continue to learn.
Then, use AI tools, not simply as a way to get things done more quickly, but as a way to open your mind.
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Treat generative AI as a foil. That challenges your biases and assumptions. Asks you questions. Finds holes in your arguments. Gives you constructive feedback. Offers a perspective you hadn't considered. Becomes a sounding board for your very human and personality-laden ideas.
Don't simply hand off your thinking or creative tasks to a machine. Use it as a conversational partner to slow you down and push you farther.
Take My Video ... Please
For instance, just because you can use generative AI to create a video, doesn't mean it will be any good.
You need to understand how to tell a story visually, character development, pacing, as well as overall structure of your narrative, mood, lighting, editing and music.
That's why video directors who have access to AI could use it to spark their imaginations. Whereas the rest of us can make something, but because we haven't developed the skills or expertise, it will likely not stand out.
AI text-to-video tools and how to use them is the topic of this week's Digital Marketing Trends video.
Check it out and let me know what you think.
Facing Your Fears Head On
Before I go, I wanted to tell you about the next DM Show with Deirdre Breakenridge . Our special guest is a performance consultant and author Holly Jackson .
She'll be joining us for a candid conversation about how to step outside of your comfort zone and embrace the unknown.
Holly will share her personal story about how she faced a life and death situation head on.
And she’ll offer tips on how to embrace uncertainty by adopting the F.E.A.R. model she developed. This includes learning ways to Face uncertainty, Embrace curiosity, Advocate for yourself and Reach out to help others.
It's a free event on Friday, June 27 at 1:00 p.m. ET. You can RSVP here or by clicking on the image below. See you there!
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Well, it's time to put issue #125 to bed.
Thank you to all of you who follow me and subscribe, read, comment and share this newsletter!
This newsletter comes out twice a month. But between issues, I share shorter daily posts with my take on digital marketing and the latest on generative AI. It's another way to stay on top of the trends.
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Let me know if you have questions about any of the videos in Digital Marketing Trends or any of my other LinkedIn Learning courses.
You can also visit my website and send a message or a question.
How are you using AI tools to complement and push your subject matter expertise? Please share any examples or cases in the comments below.
As for me, I'm taking a short pause to enjoy the beginning of summer. See you in July!
Note: All the content in this post was written by a human—me and not Martin-bot.
Martin, your exhaustion resonates. There’s too much hype and too little humility. I wonder if training an emotionally intuitive AI might in turn help us to slow things down. For instance, I sometimes prompt my ChatGPT (I call mine Chatty), “Show me how to care more and better in this case,” and it slows down the conversation, reminds me of what matters. I'm also thinking of Benjamin Braun's recent post on the intersection between EI and AI, which suggests we bring emotional intelligence as a relational protocol into how we use AI. Curious to hear your thoughts on how we can help others shift from hype to humane calibration, especially when everyone’s rushing for scale? 💖
AI should be your partner in crime, a reliable colleague that helps expand your horizons and achieve your goals.
OK
Martin Waxman, MCM, APR - thanks for sharing this great article, as AI becomes this great "prompt engine" that we all try to learn to manage and adapt to, - then where along this journey do the "filter" we all need to apply and adopt comes in place? Are we as humans ethical enough to know that, and does the younger generation understand what's right or wrong, or even "made up"? Or that is just part of the journey, as it becomes ok to create stuff that was never real? I believe there are different levels of uncertainty, as there are big differences in usage scenarios within any area. Likewise, in the end AI's capability in being able create and spit out for example usage scenarios and predictive analysis can be pretty jaw-dropping"? food for thought....
We'd be rather foolish to ignore the legitimate concerns about implementation and oversight. The most productive conversations I've had lately aren't between the cheerleaders and the doom-mongers, but amongst those of us trying to work out how to use these tools responsibly and effectively. Perhaps the real question isn't whether AI will transform business (it already is), but whether we're mature enough as leaders to wield it thoughtfully. The technology isn't inherently good or bad, but our approach to it certainly can be