Have you heard any of these terms recently?
ChatGPT, OpenAI, Google Bard, Microsoft Bing, Chatsonic, Jasper, YouChat, Dialo or Character? These are all apps that use search and artificial intelligence to return incredibly specific and creepily personalized, conversational results. Not just a list of products or websites, these services converse with you, write your papers, diagnose and create a treatment plan for your medical issue, tell you if you’re happy in your marriage or where you should apply for a new job. It’s a lot.
It’s the newest and most significant (and wild) development on the interwebs and in general people are having one of three reactions:
The Early Adopter – if this isn’t you, you probably heard about this new tech from an early adopter. They’re using it, talking about it and sure it’s going to change the world. Spoiler alert: they are probably right
The Avoider: You heard about this, it totally freaked you out (spoiler alert: this is totally reasonable reaction) and now every time this comes up your brain says “Keep moving. Nothing to see here.” As a matter of fact, if this is you and you’re actually still reading this email – kudos to you and I’m honored by your trust. And you can trust me, I’m going to help.
The Side Eye Giver: You heard about it, you’re listening a bit, and you’re sure this is another big fuss over a little thing.
The Kind-of-Freaking-Out-Over-Here-er: This level of change is NOT cool by you, and you’re not a tech expert so you can see there is a lot to learn and react to and protect against but HOW in the world are you supposed to know what to do? But you can’t look away.
As a lot of you know, I spend most of my time diving into how our brains process change. And this? Well, sorry Side Eye Givers, this one is a big change. Big like Before Internet compared to After Internet. And I know you lived through that because everyone who was born After Internet already knows this is a big deal but aren’t as stressed by it because for younger folks, this is a change, not a Big Change.
Remember – all change causes our brains to say “Cool, but could I die?” To keep us safe, our brains look for what we could lose with this new change (privacy, safety, autonomy), whether we can trust the change (like all apps they are only somewhat trustworthy at best) and what will be uncomfortable about it.
For anyone paying attention to this new application of AI (artificial intelligence) there is a lot of potential loss, distrust and discomfort.
HOWEVER!
You can always get your amygdala to relax a bit by asking yourself one question: What choices do I have?
And with AI, you have a lot of choices.
You can take a wait and learn approach (highly recommend).
You can go slowly with trying this technology.
You can ask smart people who know a lot about it how to use it well.
You can see how it lands in your industry.
You can keep an eye out for people who might be misusing this.
You can breathe. If you’ve been feeling vaguely to deeply uncomfortable about this, asking yourself why and making a plan is a quicker way to recovery.
Anyone willing to tell me where you are with your reaction to ChatGPT and its competitors? I’m halfway between Early Adopter and Side Eye Giver.
All my best,
Dr. G
