AI Expands 'Slow Thinking'
Excessive Expectations for AI
Recently, many companies have been receiving top-down orders to use AI to improve efficiency.
Presumably, most company presidents do not want to be left behind by the current AI wave. And I feel that half of those presidents suspect that by using AI (or rather, just by using AI, something magical and incomprehensible will happen), their company's operations will run twice as fast.
However, I would like to argue that revisiting mailing lists and data storage locations is more important than using AI to improve efficiency.
In a state where unnecessary mailing lists remain in large numbers, the same information is sent to both email and chat, or no one knows where data is stored, AI will only process cluttered information at high speed.
What is important is the '5S' methodology.
First, we should start with the 5S of information.
'5S' is not just about tidying up.
It is about establishing fixed locations for things or tasks and making them a habit, and unless this can be done, no matter how excellent an AI you bring in, efficiency will not be realized.
Thinking of Cognitive Load as an 'Investment'
Now, the problem is the group of managers who do not want to introduce AI.
Why are they so stubbornly resistant to introducing AI...
I have a hypothesis.
The difference between those who want to introduce AI and those who do not is not a technical issue with AI itself, but rather how that person perceives 'cognitive load'.
Cognitive load refers to the 'mental burden' placed on the brain's workspace (working memory) when humans process and understand information. Therefore, new information such as learning new tools, reorganizing information, or changing work methods increases a person's cognitive load.
People who consider this increase in cognitive load as a 'cost' are likely the ones who dislike introducing AI (though it seems not limited to just AI...).
On the other hand, there are also people who consider it an 'investment'.
These are people who can accept an increase in current load if there is a large return later. Such people are surely also capable of properly implementing '5S'.
How Should We Organize Our Thinking?
In his book 'Thinking, Fast and Slow,' Daniel Kahneman divided human thinking into System 1 and System 2.
System 1 is intuitive and fast thinking.
System 2 is logical and time-consuming thinking.
When I am reading a book or just zoning out, I often get a sense of unease or a flash of an idea. However, these are like mist, and if left alone, they quickly dissipate. In other words, they are fragments of thought produced by 'System 1'.
Organizing such fragments is quite difficult.
This is because they are still in a fluffy state, not connected to anything. At the stage of a flash idea, it is difficult to know how to categorize them or what index to attach.
By nurturing those fragments, various connections are born. Around that point, the structure finally becomes clear, and it becomes possible to attach indices. I believe this process is close to what Kahneman calls 'System 2'.
In other words, regarding the '5S of Information,' it is difficult to organize things using intuitive ideas that come to mind via 'System 1,' and you must elevate them to a 'System 2' state, apply the necessary labels, and store them in the appropriate place.
That is why the '5S of Information' is difficult.
It is because the process of moving from 'System 1' to 'System 2' must take place inside someone's head.
AI cannot act as a substitute for either 'System 1' or 'System 2'.
And (for now), there is no feature that automatically stores output that a person has structured in their brain somewhere.
In that sense, AI is not omnipotent.
As a result, the '5S of Information' must be performed by humans.
What AI can do, what humans should do
However, I believe that AI can assist with 'System 2'.
When people think, most of the 'System 1' ideas that suddenly pop up slip through their fingers. But by using AI, I have the feeling that I can hold onto those flash ideas.
Therefore, for me, AI is not a 'device that answers questions' or a 'device that thinks for me,' but rather an 'amplification device to help my brain's System 2 function efficiently'.
The value of AI is not just about finishing work faster.
It is about creating the time and mental capacity for humans to think more deeply.
That is precisely why, even in the AI era, the final question will always be the human ability to organize information, give it meaning, and determine its proper place.