A Curious Case of AI
An alternative option to the fear of an AI overlord takeover
A few weeks ago I posted a photo on LinkedIn from an old slide I used to keep in my keynote lineup. It’s a pretty simple one, with only a single sentence on it reading: “I am afraid.”
An audience member had snapped the photo during my keynote at MAICON last year, and I won’t hide that it made me chuckle seeing this slide out of context.
I used to use that slide as an attention grabber, as it summed up the general public sentiment of AI I was encountering in my work. From fear of losing a job, to losing control, to losing the competitive edge, everyone I talked to seemed to have their own flavor of fear echoing through their mind.
As I mention in my post, although that fear is still rippling through to today, I made the decision to remove that slide from my lineup.
Instead, in this ever evolving context of AI, I’m replacing “I am afraid” with “I am curious”.
TL;DR
Spark your sense of curiosity in AI by addressing your fears head on, exploring the context of the bigger picture, and learning how to unlock the power of asking why.
Join me for an interview with Bill Bourdon on how curiosity has helped shape the success of Mission North.
We fear what we do not understand. And, no matter who you are or what your background is, AI will never be impossible to understand. All it takes is a little curiosity. As Juan’s comment so clearly explains:
So, taking this sentiment to heart, let’s look at three different ways you can shift your mindset out of a place of fear and into a place of curiosity.
Using Doomsday Thinking To Your Advantage
The first of our curious tips is influenced by Selma Mujčić’s comment:
The part that I want to draw on here is Selma’s point about ‘allowing people to voice their own fears around AI first and simply acknowledging them’ as a great place to start the conversation. When it comes to shifting away from a mindset of fear, the last thing you want to do is invalidate those very fears. This immediately puts a person on the defense, locking down any hope of moving the conversation forward behind a thick stone wall of contention.
So, instead of ignoring (or worse, dismissing) the fears, sometimes the best place to start is to clear the air by bringing all those fears into the light of day. In other words, kickstarting our curiosity by turning it onto the very fears that are holding us back.
This is a technique I like to call “Doomsday” and it has to be one of my favorites to use when engaging with a new client. Typically, I use it when assessing a new AI business case or product, as this gives the conversation a focused direction instead of leaving me to navigate the open waters of the latest AI-inspired existential crisis.
It’s pretty simple. All you need is an hour of time, the right people in the room, and everyone’s devices silenced or put away. You start by setting the context of the targeted AI business case or product, and simply ask what could go wrong? Allow for the conversation to flow naturally, making sure that everyone gets the chance to share while validating the concerns as they are voiced. Basically, your goal is to paint a picture of doomsday, or in other words, what it would look like if everything caught fire, including the dumpster.
At roughly the halfway mark, make a summary of what doomsday would generally look like. Then, flip the script and ask people to now answer what could go right? Just as you did with the fears, allow the conversation to flow naturally as people voice their hopes and desires. This time your goal is to paint a picture in contrast to doomsday, highlighting the potential for beneficial impact the project holds.
What this simple exercise does is opens people to the possibility that for every negative thing that could wrong, there is an equal positive that can go right. This in turn stimulates the room’s curiosity, shifting them out of a place of fear and into an empowered mindset driven to explore what it would take to make things go right.
Curiosity is in the Context
To use an English turn of phrase, if the devil is in the details, then the curiosity is in the context.
This second curious tip is inspired by Sarah Clarke’s comment:
There is always more to the story than what meets the AI. When it comes to breaking down fears, getting curious about the context of a tool or even just a statement made about AI enables you to understand the full picture - which, generally speaking, is often less scary than some PR stunts would have you believe.
For example, I recently had a conversation with a tech entrepreneur about his sister-in-law, a 5th grade teacher, and her fear of what AI will do to the classroom. Her class had been visited a few months back by an AI evangelist whose message had essentially boiled down to: AI is taking over all of our jobs, so what’s the point of education anymore when we will just have AI do everything in the near future?
As a teacher, she was obviously not keen on this idea. Instead of opening up her mind to the possibilities AI can bring to the classroom, that single conversation drove into her a sense of fear and made her an avid opposer to all things AI. But what happens if we get curious about the bigger context to these lofty claims…?
First of all, a critical piece of context here is that although AI is taking over certain working tasks, it is not taking jobs without opening opportunity for new ones. Instead, the real underlying change AI is causing in the workforce is a shift in desired human skillsets. Yes, we will lose current job titles and tasks to AI. But in return we are also seeing new positions come to fruition with high demand being placed on critical thinking, emotional intelligence, communication and leadership skillsets.
Second, with this new context in mind, we see that AI is not taking jobs, but instead shifting the needs of employers. Now if we bring the further context of education into the conversation, we see that this shift in skillset demand will drive a parallel shift in educational needs - moving the focus of the classroom from memorization and factual recall to critical thinking and interpersonal skills.
With all this new context in mind, we are no longer functioning from a place of fear that AI will make the need for education obsolete. Instead, this curious dive into context shows us there is opportunity for new educational horizons just waiting to be explored - especially in places like the 5th grade classroom ;)
The Power of Why
For our final curious tip I’m drawing directly from my philosophical roots to share with you the oldest and most reliable trick in my book - asking why.
Now I know you’re probably thinking that this feels a little too obvious for me to be able to claim it as an insightful tip - and I would say you’re right. Hopefully, the idea to simply ask why when you’re faced with a scenario, idea or concept you don’t fully understand is second nature to you. Why is one of the most powerful questions to ask because it helps us get to the root of something, and once you understand the root, the rest is all bonus.
So, assuming you are already asking why of AI, let me add the actual tip here. When it comes to asking why, how you ask the question will be the defining factor of whether or not you will be able to fully tap into the power of why.
What do I mean by this? If you are asking why with a tone of judgement, you are better off staying silent. Asking someone why with a judging undertone immediately puts the other person on the defense and shuts down any possibility of constructive communication or collaboration.
Instead, you need to focus on asking why from a place of (you guessed it) curiosity. Even if you don’t agree with the other person’s point of view, asking why with the genuine intention of listening to understand opens doors, not shuts them. It encourages the other person to share, and in explaining their thought process, perspective, or project you often find that there is more common ground for understanding than you may have first expected.
Curious for more on Curiosity?
Does anyone else feel like marketing nowadays looks like someone shouted "slap 'AI' on it!" in a branding meeting and called it a day?
Sarcasm aside, it is hard to deny that marketing content is starting to look a bit monotonous these days. As companies rush to embrace the AI hype, what role does marketing have to play in shaping the future of unlocking the full potential of these emerging tech tools?
Tune in October 7th for a conversation with Bill Bourdon on how he has built success at Mission North by embracing the value of curiosity in the pursuit of the true story of AI.
Hej hej!
This post is brought to you from Stockholm, Sweden, as I sit fueling myself with a midafternoon fika in preparation for my keynote at the Solita Summit.
