How to use AI and still stay true to your values
As AI development and usage continue to grow, people are encountering a fundamental question: What is my relationship with these AI tools as a human being?
A global survey by Boston Consulting Group indicated that 43% of people are excited about AI's impact on lifestyle and workplace-based issues, while 28% are conflicted and 29% are concerned.
AI is a powerful tool that uses lots of resources (electricity, data centers, water and more), which then affects how many resources get allocated to it, where the resources come from, and who gets to make these decisions.
Humanness includes the limitations, strengths and compassion that people use to navigate through the complexities of life as an individual and as a group. We need humanness in our AI usage because the decisions we make as individuals have an impact on others.
If you want to use AI with your humanness engaged, here are three principles to help on this journey.
Define the functionality
For what ends are you using AI?
Most people focus on this benefit: convenience. This reason creates a blanket statement to always use AI, for who doesn't like convenience? So let's take another approach and work backwards: What is the outcome you want from using AI?
AI usage tends to fall into these non-mutually exclusive categories:
Organize complex ideas or processes in a usable and user-friendly way. Examples include creating a process for personalized healthy eating habits or summarizing research on the history and usage of AI in brand marketing.
Create new content or an image based on something that already exists. Maybe it's creating a picture of a cat surfing a rainbow cloud or writing the story of Cinderella in the voice of Homer Simpson. It's about taking a reference point and shifting the perspective or tone on it.
Edit something that was previously written or created to make sure it flows for grammar, punctuation, content and similar standards. Examples would be asking a program to proofread or rewrite the article you wrote for a school project.
Get really clear on what you can trust AI to do. Currently, the AI hallucination rate, or the frequency with which it generates false information, can be as high as 40%. You may not want to rely on AI only to organize something that is highly technical or trust it to create your schedule for next week.
Know exactly what you are saying yes to when you use AI.
Establish boundaries
Decide under what circumstances you will not use AI.
As humans, we all have people, ideas and things we value. This informs what we are willing or not willing to do, which creates boundaries. Humans can also have boundaries with AI.
For example, I've been a childhood fan of Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of beloved Japanese animated films such as Spirited Away. Knowing his perspectives on AI, I would never input his work into an AI platform because I respect his work deeply.
Another person I know is a writer who wants to honor the time and care it took to develop their creative work. Privacy, in terms of attribution back to the original writer, is important to them. So they decide to prioritize and even pay for (if needed) services that will not store their work and give it to other users without their knowledge.
Knowing what you highly value and are willing to hold onto is part of your integrity and empathy as a human. These qualities create boundaries, which then determine what you say no to.
Ask better questions and make better requests
After you have your personal values for AI usage based on the first two principles, let's get tactical. In order to have useful and doable AI outputs, you need to have relevant and specific inputs. Here is a framework to help you assess your inputs:
Be specific about your situation. Put on your journalist hat and provide the Five Ws: who, what, when, where and why of the circumstance. This provides enough context for AI to return outputs that are specific to you instead of just anyone else.
Name the output you want. Specify if you want high-level strategies, detailed tactics, brainstorming, summary or anything in between. If you don't state what you want initially, then you will likely input 10 more prompts to get to where you want to go.
Honor your limitations. Specify what you do not want. It can be a process, types of input, time period or perspective.
Ask follow-up questions. If something seems confusing, unclear or undoable for you, then ask AI to clarify, define or break it down to smaller steps. Sometimes, certain words or ideas are used, but they may or may not be used in the same way you are using them. Double-check to make sure you are on the same page.
When we choose to use a tool and it has an increasing impact on the world, then we need to get really clear on when and how we use it.
With these 3 principles, you get to decide why you want to use AI, under what circumstances you will not use AI and how to get AI outputs that are specific and relevant to your life.
AI is a tool. We get to bring our humanness to any tool by determining our relationship with the usage and the impact it has on the world and other people.
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This is a guest post by Nancy Li, founder of coaching firm Paññā Panya. As AI development and usage continue to grow, people are encountering a fundamental question: What is my relationship with these AI tools as a human being? A global survey by Boston Consulting Group indicated that 43% of people are excited about AI's impact on lifestyle and workplace-based issues, while 28% are conflicted and 29% are concerned. AI is a powerful tool that uses lots of resources (electricity, data centers, water and more), which then affects how many resources get allocated to it, where the resources come from, and who gets to make these decisions. Humanness includes the limitations, strengths and compassion that people use to navigate through the complexities of life as an individual and as a group. We need humanness in our AI usage because the decisions we make as individuals have an impact on others. If you want to use AI with your humanness engaged, here are three principles to help on this journey. Define the functionality For what ends are you using AI? Most people focus on this benefit: convenience. This reason creates a blanket statement to always use AI, for who doesn't like convenience? So let's take another approach and work backwards: What is the outcome you want from using AI? AI usage tends to fall into these non-mutually exclusive categories: Organize complex ideas or processes in a usable and user-friendly way. Examples include creating a process for personalized healthy eating habits or summarizing research on the history and usage of AI in brand marketing. Create new content or an image based on something that already exists. Maybe it's creating a picture of a cat surfing a rainbow cloud or writing the story of Cinderella in the voice of Homer Simpson. It's about taking a reference point and shifting the perspective or tone on it. Edit something that was previously written or created to make sure it flows for grammar, punctuation, content and similar standards. Examples would be asking a program to proofread or rewrite the article you wrote for a school project. Get really clear on what you can trust AI to do. Currently, the AI hallucination rate, or the frequency with which it generates false information, can be as high as 40%. You may not want to rely on AI only to organize something that is highly technical or trust it to create your schedule for next week. Know exactly what you are saying yes to when you use AI. Establish boundaries Decide under what circumstances you will not use AI. As humans, we all have people, ideas and things we value. This informs what we are willing or not willing to do, which creates boundaries. Humans can also have boundaries with AI. For example, I've been a childhood fan of Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of beloved Japanese animated films such as Spirited Away. Knowing his perspectives on AI, I would never input his work into an AI platform because I respect his work deeply. Another person I know is a writer who wants to honor the time and care it took to develop their creative work. Privacy, in terms of attribution back to the original writer, is important to them. So they decide to prioritize and even pay for (if needed) services that will not store their work and give it to other users without their knowledge. Knowing what you highly value and are willing to hold onto is part of your integrity and empathy as a human. These qualities create boundaries, which then determine what you say no to. Ask better questions and make better requests After you have your personal values for AI usage based on the first two principles, let's get tactical. In order to have useful and doable AI outputs, you need to have relevant and specific inputs. Here is a framework to help you assess your inputs: Be specific about your situation. 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When we choose to use a tool and it has an increasing impact on the world, then we need to get really clear on when and how we use it. With these 3 principles, you get to decide why you want to use AI, under what circumstances you will not use AI and how to get AI outputs that are specific and relevant to your life. AI is a tool. We get to bring our humanness to any tool by determining our relationship with the usage and the impact it has on the world and other people.
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