Happy Sunday Everyone:
I’ve had a couple people ask if I use AI to write these Sunday Thoughts. If I’m being completely honest, I was offended at first. It wasn’t their intent, they were just curious, but I was offended. I think the offense came because of the time and energy that goes into these, and my own perception of how that goes away if I use AI to write them. Answer for me is a very large no, I do not use AI to write Sunday Thoughts, for better and probably for worse at times.
I’m a lover of AI. I use it daily in work, I use it daily personally, and I even use it to write depending on the situation. One very simple example, I record my coaching calls with my students, AI drafts our talking points, what’s working, what’s not, and then assigns their homework, I review it once and hit send. Probably saves me 30 minutes per student and captures every important point I could have easily missed and also builds on the student as I continue to coach them, patterns, etc.. The intent of today isn’t to go through how I use AI; the point is to recognize there is a massive place for AI, but I don’t think it can replace something like these writings or anything people hold personal to them.
To me it’s the human element and the authenticity that goes along with it. I have very little interest reading something someone used AI to write if it’s on a personal basis. Reversing the lens, can you imagine getting a note from a friend about your relationship, but they didn’t write it. A note from your kid talking about you being a parent, but they didn’t write it. A note from your spouse about your marriage, but they didn’t write it. Thinking through things is a good. Plugging in “wife, love, college sweetheart, still same gal as when I met her, pretty on outside and in, live in Danville, Jack, Thomas are our boys” draft letter, not good. I’m obviously being a little over the top, but you get the point.
I think of AI as an amazing tool to outsource work, which can be a great thing, but to outsource what I’m talking about here, as the writer, we’re outsourcing what it means to think through, to reflect on, to consider the feelings you had. If you’ve seen the movie Good Will Hunting, I think of the scene with Matt Damon/Robin Williams sitting by the lake where Robin Williams says, “I’ll bet you can tell me everything about Michelangelo, but I’ll bet you can’t tell me what it’s like to stand in the Sistine Chapel and look up at the ceiling”. That’s probably the best example I can think of in using AI to write something vs. us taking the effort to do it ourselves.
I love AI, it will change the world we live in for sure, but I do think on the human side of things, taking the time to go through the process of thinking, feeling, and deliberating, is an exercise worth not outsourcing. Sometimes the value isn’t just in what we create, but what’s happening to us while we’re creating it.