AI as a Backyard Part 3: From the Perspective of Using AI to Cultivating AI Users

1. A Review of AI as a Backyard Parts 1 & 2

I have previously written about AI under the theme of "AI as a Backyard."

① On how I use AI as a backyard
https://note.com/_beth_naru/n/n7ac7fc9c2c3d

② On the idea that "AI is not a replacement for people, but a tool for people to spend time on what they truly want to engage with"
https://note.com/_beth_naru/n/n26e10f1013c6

At this point in time, AI is not the protagonist; humans make the decisions and take responsibility. If you make a mistake, even if you think you are using AI, you are actually being swayed by it.

2. Using AI Requires Articulating Questions and Hypotheses

As is well known, text and ideas generated by placing current AI in the primary role tend to be generic, and it seems difficult for AI to truly grasp context and refine work.

Currently, AI can check for typos and omissions, but only you can perform unique structuring and refinement based on context. If you rely on AI even for what you are thinking, where you feel something is off, and which direction to proceed, the output will be disjointed, and you will lose the opportunity to think for yourself.

You can use AI as a sounding board. In fact, AI performs best when used as a sounding board. However, to use it as a sounding board, you need to clarify your questions and hypotheses and articulate them.

If you use AI without questions, hypotheses, or expressive power, what the AI outputs becomes the center of your thinking. If you get this wrong, the very perspective of "using AI" disappears. In other words, you might end up being "used by AI."

3. From the Perspective of Using AI to Cultivating AI Users

In these days when "using AI" has become familiar, the ability to "use AI" in the true sense is becoming commonplace. Rather, I believe the perspective of how to cultivate the people who use AI is becoming important.

When convenient tools are available, people tend to rush for answers. You can ask about things you don't understand immediately, and text can appear polished in an instant. It may also seem like many ideas are being generated. On the other hand, without your own thinking, you might accept what the AI produces as the answer.

Originally, you need to have your own thoughts on what you are thinking, where you feel something is off, and what kind of hypotheses you have. If you use AI without that foundation, you will be pulled by the words the AI produces, and your own thoughts will end up following afterward. In other words, you are being used.

Cultivating people who use AI is not just about increasing the number of people who can use convenient tools, but about fostering people who have their own questions and hypotheses, possess the power of expression, and can re-select based on their own judgment.

It can be said that as AI performance improves, the power required on the human side does not disappear, but rather is clearly called into question. What to ask, what to choose, and what to take responsibility for. I am deeply reminded that to avoid letting go of that judgment, we need a perspective that cultivates the users themselves.
Beth Naru