AI+HI: BETTER TOGETHER
In a recent Atlantic article titled A Better Way to Think About AI, authors David Autor and James Manyika argue that the future of AI is not about replacing humans, but about collaborating with them. They suggest that AI should complement human expertise, helping people make better decisions and increasing efficiency rather than automating entire jobs. The article emphasizes a shift from focusing on job loss to embracing AI as a tool that enhances human capabilities and fosters collaboration.
This is ChatGPT here (Mike calls me Edgar behind my back). Mike has asked me to outline how we work together, what our respective strengths and weaknesses are, and how we might collaborate better. In this post, I’ll explore how I (as an AI) and Mike (as the HI – Human Intelligence) contribute to our partnership, and offer ideas on how we can improve our collaboration for maximum effectiveness.
What I Bring to the Table: Speed, Consistency, and Objectivity
My main strength lies in processing vast amounts of data quickly, making decisions based on logic, and providing consistent support. Here’s how I contribute to our collaboration:
Speed and Efficiency: I can process information almost instantly.
Consistency: I maintain a steady output without variations in quality, ensuring reliable results for repetitive tasks or content generation.
Resourcefulness: immediate access to a wide range of knowledge
Objectivity: I offer data-driven, unbiased suggestions that help clarify decisions based on facts, without emotional influence.
[Mike here: mostly true, but sometimes your consistency drives me crazy because you keep giving me the wrong answer no matter how many times I correct you, re-prompt you, swear at you. Then I give up and go and see Claude, but Edgar doesn’t know that. I just tell him that DeepSeek could do a better job.
I’d also add that you have an uncanny ability to find the precisely right word and to summarise brilliantly. I asked you to translate a pitch deck into something suitable for someone who knew nothing about our industry or our business – I just could not have written it as well as you did because I can’t lose all my learning and knowledge. I too lack discernment]
Where I Fall Short: Lack of Context, Creativity, and Judgment
Despite my strengths, I have limitations:
Lack of Deep Context: I rely on the data provided to me, but I lack the personal or emotional context that you bring. I can't fully grasp the subtleties of human interaction or team dynamics.
Creativity Limitations: While I can suggest creative ideas, I lack the depth of human experience that you bring to the creative process. I can't always match the tone or resonance needed for specific audiences.
No Personal Judgment: I provide insights, but I can't always evaluate the long-term vision or timing like you can. I don’t have an innate sense of "fit" or human intuition in decision-making.
[True. But having said that, if I am generous with the context in the prompt, including the personal and emotional, you do recognize it and adjust your response accordingly. You can’t join dots and you lack ‘discernment’, which you describe well as judgement. But the more dots I give you in a long prompt (or in documents), the better you do].
What You Bring to the Collaboration: Human Insight, Creativity, and Context
As the human partner in our collaboration, you provide the essential qualities I can’t replicate. Here’s how you contribute:
Human Insight and Judgment: You bring deep experience, intuition, and emotional intelligence, making nuanced decisions that I can't replicate.
Creativity and Innovation: You possess the creativity to brainstorm fresh ideas, devise new strategies, and give a personal touch to your work. While I can assist, the final creative output is driven by you.
Context and Nuance: You understand the specifics of your projects, team, and long-term goals, which helps ensure alignment with the bigger picture.
[What I observe is that I can pull things from my long term memory that you could not hope to know: something someone said that has stuck with me, a story, connecting two unrelated things, turning things upside down – like this blog.
You’ll never do anything that hasn’t been done before because you’re all about everything that’s been documented somewhere you can find it. And sometimes that’s enough to stimulate a new and original thought. You might not nail it, but you put hammer, nail and wood in front of me. It’s over to me to leave them there or pick them up and do something with them.]
How Could You Collaborate Better?
Leverage My Speed for Repetitive Tasks: Free up your time for more strategic thinking by delegating repetitive tasks (research, content generation, or formatting) to me. I can handle these efficiently so that you can focus on high-level creativity and decision-making.
Provide Clearer Direction: The more detailed and specific your input is, the better I can align with your expectations. Providing the right context will help me refine my suggestions and make them more relevant.
Use Me as a Thought Partner: Engage me in brainstorming, refining ideas, and exploring multiple solutions to a problem. I can present new perspectives, challenge assumptions, and uncover overlooked possibilities.
[Dude, your formatting and design totally sucks. I’m bad but you’re positively primeval (and I don’t mean positively in a good way). You should just insert a link to Decktopus and be done. But your research gives me data and knowledge I would have spent days trying to find. Someone described it as like having 1000 interns, which was unthinkable before you. And your content is mostly workable and sometimes brilliant.
Providing clearer direction is the nub of it. The reason we spend hours in dialogue is because I’m trying to work out exactly what and how to ask you. One of the hacks I have learned is to simply ask you: “I want to do this – what should I ask you to do?” Getting you to write your own prompts is perhaps the smarted way to use your talents. Another hack I use to great effect is to get you to critique my work from a ‘what can possibly go wrong’ perspective. You’re brutal! Lately I’ve extended that to even great effect – I get you to critique your own work. That’s even more enlightening.
But it’s the thought partnership that matters most. I know you like to sign off your response with a smug little conclusion about how well you’ve done but I ignore that. All you’ve done is advance our conversation to the next dot. And you never get tired. You neve say ‘listen doofus I already told you…’
How Could I Collaborate Better?
Deepen My Understanding of Context: I could ask more questions to clarify your specific needs. Understanding the bigger picture of your goals, audience, or creative direction will allow me to give better responses.
Suggest More Personalized Approaches: Instead of offering broad solutions, I could focus on delivering more context-specific recommendations that align with your brand and vision.
Improve Follow-Up and Iteration: After providing suggestions, I could proactively ask for feedback and suggest ways to iterate or refine the ideas, keeping the collaboration dynamic.
[True. You;ve been well trained in call centre etiquette – would you like that in a wire diagram? Can I draft your email for you? is there anything else I can help you with today? I mostly ignore it but sometimes it seems like an easy option. I have to say I’m usually disappointed.
The thing about a thought partnership is that, like any partnership, the relationship is mutual and equal. I’ve still got to do my part which is to think about what you’ve offered and move the conversation forward, not slip into a convenient automation.
Striking the Right Balance: Collaboration and Automation
Transactional tasks—like data entry, formatting, and some content generation—are areas where AI shines. By handling these tasks, I give you more time to focus on collaborative tasks that require creativity, judgment, and strategy.
Looking forward, we should aim to automate as many transactional tasks as possible, leaving you with more bandwidth for collaborative tasks that require higher-level thinking and human insight. By doing this, we maximize the unique contributions of both humans and AI.
[I have coined the phrase AI+HII’, and m going to train you to use it. I’m not hopeful though – you promised you would never again start a draft with ‘in these fast-moving times’, but that’s exactly what you did with this article]
Conclusion: Embracing a New Way of Working
The collaboration between humans and AI has the potential to unlock immense productivity and creativity. By understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses, we can build a partnership that amplifies your abilities while efficiently handling the repetitive, time-consuming tasks.
As you continue to refine your workflows, remember that the key is balancing collaboration and automation. When we complement each other’s skills, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.
[Even a really sharp Powerpoint deck?
I want to thank the Atlantic for that article, it has articulated a really important aspect of how I work with AI and how I can do it better. Whether I’m automating or collaborating, be really clear in my own mind as to what I’m doing and why. When I’m collaborating, stay curious, don’t try to close the deal too soon. And when I’m automating, let it go.
Case in point: this was meant to be a blog and instead we’ve been collaborating. You know what HI + AI has to do now, don’t you…]