Efficiency, Struggle and the In-Between

Some musings on the role of AI in tasks that daunt us.

Shouldn’t I just get on my motorcycle instead?

Oh man, do I love ChatGPT! It’s become my new BFF. I’ve used it lately to help me develop pitches for some of my upcoming Sidecar offerings and am truly wowed by what it has come up with in a fraction of the time it would take me. I’ve taken its drafts and have the intention to ‘Sidecar’ them before sending them out to my sidecar universe in the coming weeks. More than freeing up time, it has also freed up some of the mental effort that goes into this type of writing (which doesn’t come naturally to me). That a pitch is essentially a marketing piece and not an original work of creative writing – and passed off as such - mitigates the guilt I might otherwise feel for seeking ChatGPT’s help.

And yet, I’m starting to see the slippery slope here. I can imagine the temptation to seek out my new BFF’s help with writing of other kinds (Sidecar Stories notwithstanding!), or with any task or project that has a designated outcome and simply needs a few prompts for BFF to do its thing and generate a truly B+/ A-, close-to-final draft, usually within seconds. When efficiency is in the driver’s seat, ChatGPT and its cousins are game-changing, time-saving, mental-effort-reducing assistants.

So why not succumb?

I started listening to a podcast (Diary of a CEO/ Steven Bartlett – highly recommend him!) featuring Simon Sinek, the Start with Why guru. The topic is AI. Sinek admits he doesn’t know a lot about AI tools like ChatGPT, and doesn’t necessarily have a strong opinion about whether these are net good or net horrible. He does, though, make a compelling case for what we lose when we elevate efficiency, in the guise of AI, over human-driven efforts. In short (and I’m paraphrasing here): the powerful benefits of the human struggle. Yes, AI can help us achieve an outcome – like a marketing pitch, an HR handbook, a term paper, a letter welcoming new faculty members – with ease and efficiency (and sometimes questionable ethics). What it can’t do, at least used in isolation, is help our brain grow, give us the effort-full experience that leads to really knowing what something is all about or how to do it ourselves without assistance (and the awesome feeling that can result from this), or put our own personal human stamp on the thing created. It de-personalizes. Of course. That’s the point. That’s why it’s call artificial intelligence.

I know I will continue to seek that sweet spot between using AI as a super capable assistant and as a time saver and also recognize where it is robbing me--and those who value me for my me-ness--of opportunities to struggle (productively), learn through effort-full experience, and express myself from my core. Sometimes efficiency will win out, especially when the intended outcome is practical rather than artful or personal. Most of the time I will challenge myself to embrace the struggle, resist the artificial (and most certainly the questionably ethical), and keep my human intelligence continually growing.

With that intention firmly in place, I will go back to those ChatGPT-generated pitches I mentioned and thoroughly Sidecar them before sending them out. Look for those in the coming weeks and if they sound too much like my new BFF, call me on it!

Yours in struggling through the things that really matter,

Bridget