There’s no doubt you’re already using AI. Everyone is.
When I told my mum that, she looked puzzled. ‘I don’t use AI,’ she said.
‘You probably do,’ I suggested. Then I showed her how the recommendations from Netflix were made by AI based on what she’d watched.
‘Oh, it’s very clever!’
I use some form of AI every day. Not to do my thinking for me, but often to challenge it. I love asking questions and giving instructions that help me see things differently.
Here are seven that have become regulars.
Feel free to pinch them. I almost certainly did.
Tell me what question I should have asked instead.
Sometimes we become so focused on finding the answer that we never stop to ask whether we’re asking the right question.
This prompt has completely changed the direction of some of my conversations.
It replies with, ‘A better question might be…’ And often it is.
What’s missing from my thinking?
We all have blind spots.
The problem is, by definition, we can’t see them.
Instead of asking AI to agree with me, I’ll often ask it what I’ve overlooked.
It doesn’t always find something. Sometimes it makes stuff up😳. But it’s often interesting.
Argue against me.
It’s easy to surround yourself with people (and AIs) who agree with you. But it doesn’t have to.
Ask it to take the opposite view.
You don’t have to change your mind. But spending a moment holding two opposing opinions in your brilliant brain almost always strengthens your own thinking.
Give me five reasons why my idea won’t work.
This reminds me of Edward de Bono’s Black Hat. This isn’t to make your idea look bad.
It’s because every good idea has weaknesses and it’s better for you to discover them before someone else does.
Explain this as if I were twelve.
I do this because I can be a bit thick sometimes and even the slightest complexity can hide poor understanding.
If something can be explained simply, it’s usually understood properly.
What am I assuming to be true?
Many poor decisions start with an assumption nobody questioned.
Often AI doesn’t give me a new answer but it’s excellent at pointing out an assumption I’d missed.
What’s the smallest experiment I could run?
We often think in terms of big decisions. Stuff like: Should I change career? Launch the business? Move house? Write the book? Change my relationship?
Ask AI for something much smaller.
‘What’s the smallest test I could run this week?’ It’s a wonderfully practical way to think.
Small experiments usually lead to better decisions than big guesses.
I’m not convinced AI’s greatest gift is giving us better answers. But I do think it can teach you to ask better questions.
Which question do you like most? And what would you add? I’d love to know. Please leave your comment here.
Be Brilliant!
Michael
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