This weekend I spent a few hours with my new buddy, ChatGPT. I used it to help digest and organize a huge amount of information that both saved me time and which I had been wrestling with for too long and needed another ‘set’ of eyes. It was incredibly helpful and got me to where I needed to go in under ten minutes, versus what would have probably taken me two or three days, considering needing to take mental breaks and do normal life.
It’s not a tool I use often in my personal life, if I’m being honest. I personally place extremely high value on critical thinking, and find the tasks of thinking through my day, planning, and having the experience of stumbling on something that surprises or delights me genuinely valuable. If I streamlined everything in my life, I’d almost feel less in control and less ownership over things, as if I was just given a to-do list every day. I blame my Myers-Briggs profile partially for this, and maybe if I were wired differently I’d not mind the process of masterminding most things genuinely enjoyable, but that’s a tangent for another time. Maybe I’ll eventually shift my outlook, maybe that’s where this is all headed, who knows.
At the same time this week, I had saved this social media post from Forbes titled, “Why Taste is the One Skill AI Can’t Copy”.
It made me feel hopeful and excited about AI, and reading the article actually got me to open up Chat and start using it as the tool that it is, for something in my personal life, instead of holding onto the idea that my own brain would be the better tool. Because the article pointed out something that I had considered, but never saw in writing - AI cannot replace discernment, and that’s really what our brains are analyzing all day long. Sure, it can organize thoughts, create lists, solve problems. But discernment - judgement, perception, understanding, and perspective of the world around us - is what makes us all unique. It’s what makes one person choose to move across the country to a huge city and another person decide that would be the worst option for him. It’s knowing that the perfect answer presented is actually not right for us, but makes sense on paper. It’s the intuitive nudge that we’ve all both listened to and ignored. AI will probably eventually get to the point of being able to discern, even in the style of each individual human. But the small pivots, the small experiential impacts that our lived experiences play on each tiny choice we make will always be the difference between AI and us.
Taste is something that I’ve been in awe of since I was very young - I’ve naturally developed my ‘eye’ for the things that feel like me. As I’m getting comfortable and open to how AI is showing up in everyday life, knowing where the True North lies is actually helping me use AI as a tool to amplify that compass, and that’s something that I can get on board with.