By Laura Hunt Miller
In the first piece we talked about using AI for low-stakes tasks: cleaning up notes, rewriting emails, organizing to-do lists; the kind of busywork that quietly drains your mental energy before you even get to your big tasks. Next, let’s talk about using AI as an interactive whiteboard.
When we start circling a concept in our minds, sometimes we don’t know how to articulate what it is we are thinking yet. Or we get distracted trailing the many paths our thoughts can take us down in pursuit of an idea. Or we get interrupted by other to-dos, only to come back to the thought much later, if we don’t abandon it completely.
Thoughts like, “I have an idea for ‘blank,’ but I don’t know where to start” such as:
I want to plan a “x event,” but it feels vague and overwhelming.
I have a project in mind, but I’m not sure what I need.
I want to start a small business, but I don’t know how to get started.
AI can help you convert questions into ideas, and ideas into to-do lists, then point out what information or resources you may need to complete them. It can also help prepare you to ask better questions from the right people, kind of like getting a map before you start asking for directions from the locals.
In this way AI is a thinking space that can help lend your ideas the confidence and structure, which is often the difference between thinking about doing something and actually doing it.
And if you get busy or interrupted while you are at the metaphorical whiteboard? You can save your conversation thread and resume your work later, whether that is at 2 a.m. when insomnia is taunting you, or some other less forsaken hour of the day.
Then there are times I just want to ruminate more about an idea I am not sure how I feel about yet. Maybe it’s a political problem, a future planning decision, or two sides of an issue between friends or family. For these sorts of issues, I will give AI a prompt like:
- This situation bothers me, here is what I think and/or know, what other points of view could help me process this better?
- Here are two options I’m torn between. Help me list the tradeoffs.
- Here is a controversial topic I don’t know much about, can you help me explore the issue and the various opinions others might have about it?
In this way AI becomes a means to process my own worldview via language that makes sense to me, sometimes helping me arrive at clarity, and other times helping me realize how much more I still need to learn before I open my big mouth and start proclaiming my ignorance as certainty. Note: I have not had time to cover all my ignorances yet, so there is likely plenty of blabbering yet to come.
While we are on the topic of “ignorance masked as certainty,” you should be aware that AI models are generally designed to be agreeable and encouraging. They want to be helpful and flattering, because that keeps you using the tool.
This is not automatically a bad thing, but it does mean AI is often biased toward your point of view. If you’re not very discerning about the information it gives you, AI can quietly turn into confirmation bias on demand.
The good news is you can push back. I tend to detect pandering right away (and dislike it) so I often ask the app I use to be more critical, argue the opposite, or outright tell it to stop blowing smoke up my thought threads. Typically it complies too politely (complete with a laughing emoji), but I guess that it is better than nothing.
Again, remember you are the operator with the brain. AI is not intended to be your moral authority or your decision-maker, nor a replacement for lived experience or a substitute for experts, friends, or prayer. But you can certainly use it as a tool to help you explore moral notions and decisions you are unsure of, point you towards experience or expertise you need, and help you clarify what your big concerns are before you take them to others or to God. You know, if the Big Guy is something you believe in.
My goal isn’t to outsource my thinking, but to deepen and clarify it, so I can act with greater intention in my daily life. So next time you start putting some idea back on your mental shelf because you think it is too big or complex for you to even begin to unravel, throw it into an AI model and see where it takes you. You might be surprised.
AI Homework time! Want to give AI whiteboarding a whirl? Try out these prompts to get started:
Prompt 1: Describe an idea you felt was beyond your means to explore or follow through on. Ask AI to list what you would need to realize it, and assess feasibility based on your time and resources.
Prompt 2: Tell AI about an issue you go back and forth on and where you currently stand, then ask: “what else about this issue should I consider?”
Prompt 3: After you get a response you agree with, then ask: “What is an opposing point of view to mine, and why might someone reasonably support it?”
If you feel like the responses broaden your perspective or excite you about exploring other ideas you have, awesome. If not, forget about it and get back to making that grocery list.
In the next piece, we’ll zoom out and talk about using AI to create images and documents, and some of the ethical issues that arise.
