Becoming a fluent 'AI conversationalist'
"Oh no!," was researchers' first reaction when the results of the first real-world experiment on AI's impact on teams' performance (with a focus on problem-solving) rolled in.
𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐀𝐈 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧-𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩!
What was going on? "Oh no!" quickly turned into "oh yes!" when they realised this gives us insight into how we limit ourselves when interacting with GenAI.
ChatGPT looks similar to something we've done before i.e. Google search (a cognitive bias called the Einstellung effect). So we tend to use it the way we would Google: ask a question, get an answer, end of story. No wonder AI-assisted outcomes were so average!
It turns out the game-changer -- both on an individual and team level -- is to become a 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭.
Here's the lowdown:
🔸 Paint a vivid scenario and train the AI on the context of your challenge. Don't expect it to be an 'oracle'.
🔸 Like in any good conversation, empathise with the bot, get curious on its thought process and give it the benefit of the doubt (rather than assuming it's a dumb bot).
🔸 Don't settle. Even if the first answer seems spot on, dig deeper. Challenge the AI to get more creative.
🔸 Enlist the help of an outsider to facilitate the final decision.
Some thoughts this sparks for me:
1) To be more conversational with AI, teams will need to get better at nailing down their problem-statement (that's a skill!); and create a climate that makes space for an exploratory mindset (cue curiosity, empathy, risk-taking, psych safety).
2) The interaction with ChatGPT seems to be a whole new type of relationship. It's not like human relationships; and it's not like the relationships we've been having with machines so far either. It's its own thing.
3) Facilitators, it might be time for us to level up! Facilitating AI ideation is a new skill we'll need to add to our tool-belt.
Curious what you all make of this!
Stay fierce & curious!
Alina
