How to manage the ‘dumber’ risk when using AI?

The Best Practice You Need NOW

Feeling worried about becoming an idiot while using AI.

Sometimes it feels so powerful to use AI that you can’t help but keep using it, more and more.

You rely on it daily, but you also wonder how it might affect your brain.

I’m with you. 

As a leader, you want to keep up with the latest technology and cannot afford to skip it. You want to keep your thinking sharp to stay ahead, not become dumber and lag behind.

That's why it's important to learn how to protect your brain, yourself, and your family.

First things first, if you are expecting the Top 5 rules to achieve zero AI usage risks. Sorry, I don’t have it. Nobody does.

But I believe the more we share our thoughts, the more we learn together, the better we manage it for ourselves and for future generations.

I have been using AI since the ChatGPT launch. I have seen AI develop from a ‘silly’ tool, a ‘knowledgeable’ workmate, to a powerful self-managed team.

That sense of worry is creeping up.

Especially learning from how we have been impacted by digital devices and social media. Our reliance on the tool, and its social and emotional impact, is not something we expect but are experiencing collectively.

AI seems to have similar risks to social media. Some are the same, including potential over-reliance and mental health. Some are different, like weakening our thinking and creativity.

I’m not an AI expert. I don’t know the potential risks and impact well enough. But I still want to protect myself when using AI.

What The EXPERTS Do

I tried to learn from others with deeper knowledge and have found the following.

Sam Altman (CEO, OpenAI) enforces a strict human-first rule for his infant son

🤔 When the ChatGPT founder thinks that is important, what does that mean?

Dario Amodei (CEO, Anthropic) forbids granting Claude unmonitored execution access

🤔 When a company that advocates the power of agentic AI now does not let its own systems run without supervision, what would you do about your own system? 

Norway bans children aged 6–13 from using generative AI in schools

🤔 When a country with one of the best education systems implements this, what would you apply to your kids?

These actions all pointed to managing the personal usage risks around one’s ability, well-being, and privacy. 

We all know there is some danger in using AI, but there are almost no guardrails yet.

Governance complexity keeps compounding with rapid development, and most governments and leaders haven't caught up. 

We experience 'after-the-fact' impact from social media and smartphone over-reliance. This time, we can’t wait for someone to tell us what to do.

We need to set our own guardrails before we accidentally fall into a black hole. 

My BEGINNER'S Approach

After experimented with AI, gained some AI safety insights and filtered through my corporate experience, this is a practice that I plan to start with:

1️⃣ Human Mindset

Having a mantra: AI is a Tool every time I use it. Whatever AI ‘says’, it’s distilled information coming from the records of work created by millions of human beings. Even if AI's reply appears empathetic, the interactive text is written by Conversation UX Writers in AI companies.  

2️⃣ Tedious Work Priority

Use it for some specific tasks that are tedious, require less critical and creative thinking.

e.g. research, excel/document template that I used to create manually, extract a summary from content

3️⃣ Brain first and Tools later

Keep my brain in training. Whether it’s writing, strategy, or visual aids, create using my brain first (with my pen and paper). Then, I use AI to improve it by getting some suggestions based on what I want to achieve.

4️⃣ Dependency Limit

Only use AI for practical tasks, during certain times and with a time limit. For emotional needs, it is always better to speak to a human. That is a real way to address our universal human needs to be seen, heard, and valued. The emotional value and human connection is something a machine cannot provide.

5️⃣ Risk Review

AI is still developing that this plan will become a living practice. It's important to check the risks from reputable source (e.g. MIT AI Risk) from time to time so I’m aware of the recent developments and can adjust my plan accordingly.

If you don't want to be dumber or vulnerable from using AI, it's time to set up your own guardrails.

Hope this article inspires you. If it does, do share with others because

~ WE RISE BY LIFTING OTHERS ~