Ep 738 | AI Hygiene: Using the Tool Without Losing the Human

Thank you for joining me today. This is Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off Podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. I want to talk about something that's been on my mind for a little while. You know, as somebody that, that runs a couple companies and, and has a lot of people working alongside him, I've seen a trend and I'm not loving it. I want to talk about something that many of you are probably seeing on your teams or in your workplace. I think it's starting to hurt people more than it's actually helping them. AI tools like Gemini and ChatGPT and all of them, they're everywhere now. I mean, you can't escape it. And it's a great thing. It's unbelievable. It's revolutionary. They're super powerful. But I'm seeing this trend, and the trend is less original thought, less humanity, less ownership. I think that more people are quietly letting AI think for them as opposed to with them, and there's a really big difference between the two. So I want to talk about AI hygiene today. The dos and don'ts if you want AI to make you better and not replace your thinking. Now, again, I am on one with this because honestly, I'm seeing more and more emails and texts that are very clearly not written by or thought through by the, by the sender. And so this is my personal list. As I started kind of jotting things down over the past couple weeks of the dos and don'ts. I don't think I nail it here, but I think at the very least I can get you thinking both in terms of how you're operating, but also maybe what you're willing to accept as the leader within your workplace. Here's the issue, okay? Most people aren't using AI to the extent that we wish they were. They're actually leaning on it. I think you see it in emails that sound way too polished and way too hollow. I think you see it in messages that while technically saying the right thing, it just doesn't feel right. Something feels off. I think you see it in communication that lacks judgment and context and especially lacks personality. Now, while the grammar may be a dead giveaway, I don't know if that's, that's it. I think it's the— this is going to sound harsh, but I would call it almost soulless clarity that's being delivered. And I think what's happening here is costing a lot of us because you're starting to see, in my opinion, it might sound harsh, but maybe it shows up more for me than most. I think we're starting to see critical thinking, you know, disappearing or atrophying. I think you, you're seeing maybe people stop wrestling with ideas and just immediately defaulting to a ChatGPT prompt. I think what I'm seeing a lot of is everyone starting to sound the same. And in a world where AI is everywhere, I mean, original thinking is even more valuable, not less valuable. So we've got to make sure we don't, we don't lose that. Now, let me be super clear. I don't think AI is the enemy here. I don't think AI is the enemy here. AI is a tool. It's just not a brain. So in my mind, AI is a multiplier. It's a, it's a clarifier. It's a, it's an efficiency or a speed tool. But what AI is not is wisdom and context. Judgment, taste, accountability even? Because if AI is doing 100% of the work, you've probably already lost your edge. So here's my AI hygiene dos and don'ts. I've got just a few of them. And again, the idea here is that maybe some of these are very applicable in your world, that— but maybe you set your own standards, your own rules around this. I think the do number one, so there's dos and don'ts. This is do number one. I think you've got to think first and prompt second. What do I mean? I think good hygiene starts before you even open ChatGPT or Gemini or whatever it is you're using. So what I would say is do this, write the rough idea first, decide what, what it is you actually believe, know the point that you're trying to make, and then And only then do you use AI to sharpen your thoughts, organize those thoughts, even pressure test those thoughts. Because if AI is the first voice in the room, it's gonna become the loudest one in the room. And that's where we start to lose original thought. Now, if that's do number 1, don't number 1 would be let— don't let AI replace struggle. What do I mean? I have found, you've probably found, that struggle isn't a flaw. It's where clarity sometimes comes from. So if you skip the thinking and the revising, the wrestling with the thoughts, then you skip insight, you skip ownership, you skip growth opportunities for yourself. So I think that AI should remove friction, yes, but not eliminate effort. Let's go to do number 2. Remember, dos and don'ts. Do number 2. Use AI for structure, not for substance. AI, ChatGPT, Gemini, they are phenomenal at frameworks and outlines, rewrites, summaries. It's great at it. AI though is terrible at nuance. It's terrible at lived experience. It's especially terrible at knowing what matters to your audience. So while you can let AI organize the room, You're the one that has to bring the furniture to the room. Does that make sense? Now, don't number 2. Second don't. Don't send AI output raw. What do I mean when I say that? This is where people get so exposed. Raw AI output overuses the em dashes, overuses symmetry. It sounds neutral to the point of sometimes sounding bland. Raw, raw AI output. Avoids risk. It avoids opinion. It loses that edginess that many of you have come to thrive on, right? So if you didn't edit it, personalize it, or pressure test it, don't send it. Your name is on it, which means what? Your reputation, your credibility is also on it. So don't send raw AI output. Do number 3 of my dos and don'ts. There's just 3 for each, so stick with me. Do number 3. Inject humanity back in. Here's what I think. Before sending anything AI-assisted, ask yourself, would I actually say this out loud? Does this sound like me? Is there a real opinion here? I would strongly encourage you to do what it is you probably were doing at one time. If this is in fact you and you've leaned too heavily into AI, I would strongly encourage you to add some personal examples. Be you, have that imperfection that humans have when they write. Have a clear stance or take a very clear stance. People don't trust perfect communication. I don't trust perfect communication, especially if you've been communicating with me for years and I know your style. I do trust real communication. Now, don't number 3. Don't number 3. Don't hide the tool. Trying to mask AI almost always backfires. You may not think it does. It does. You don't need to announce it. I'm not saying you got to announce, you know, put at the top, used AI. But also, but don't also pretend that there's genius-level thinking. See, using AI isn't the problem, but pretending it did, did the thinking for you, that is a problem. Now, for leaders, this really matters a lot because if your team outsources thinking to AI or avoids ownership or stops forming opinions, you don't get leverage in your world. You're going to end up getting robotic compliance of sorts. I think the leaders who win with AI use it to elevate thinking, and, and they demand originality out of it, judgment, And they treat AI like an assistant, not like a decision maker. So I may have sounded aggressive here. You could probably tell I'm a little fed up with some of this, and I don't mean to sound that way. I just think that ChatGPT, Gemini, all of them, they're so amazing if they're used properly. But the overuse and the pawning off ChatGPT's ideas as your own, we've got to stop. We've got to stop because most of us, we make our money with original thought. So for the next week, don't send a single AI-assisted message without editing it for your voice, your opinion, and for clarity. So ask yourself before you send anything that you leverage AI for, ask, did I think first? Did I think through my ideas first? Did I add something that only I could add? And does this sound human? AI will reward the thinkers, in my opinion, not replace them. That's all I have for you today. The No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.