Science fiction novels are awash with stories of “post-scarcity” societies. The characters in these stories are unencumbered by basic needs like food and shelter, thereby freeing up narrative space for aspects more interesting to the reader, such as human relationships.
Back in the real world, we are finding ourselves in a lesser post-scarcity situation. Large Language Models have provided us with the ability to generate more communications and problem-solving help than we often know what to do with. Businesses the world over want to leverage these tools, and contributors are finding creative ways to incorporate LLMs into their workflows. The potential uses seem endless, and it’s an exciting frontier. I could have an LLM write this entire blog post — editing out all the em-dashes — and readers would probably start needing to use some strong discernment skills to tell if it was written entirely by AI or not.
However, there are still some important things to pack in your bag if you’re taking a trip into the AI frontier. In a world where it feels like everyone is rapidly developing their AI skills, don’t leave these two key things behind. Both involve the human element.
Consulting – Ask Good Questions
The word “consulting” is a bit of a loaded one here at Atomic Object. Since we make a trade of doing this thing, we spend quite a bit of time pondering the definition of the term. I think a lot of the meaning comes down to this: know how to ask good questions and evaluate the answers.
Fortunately for consultants, this skill is directly and obviously transferable to AI use. Anyone can use an LLM chatbot, but it takes knowledge and experience asking good questions to get to the bottom of the problem you’re trying to solve. The term Prompt Engineering has emerged as a way to refer to people who are good at this. But, knowing how to finesse an LLM into providing clear and topical answers is only half the battle. Knowing how to refine a given answer into something clear and actionable for your client or your team is just as important.
Empathy – Connecting to People
Whenever the topic of AI content comes up, people are appropriately quick to mention that missing, intangible human element. AI art is called soulless, while AI music is said to be missing something hard to describe. AI social media posts are notably slop — the list goes on.
Now pair this idea with the worst sprint planning meeting you can remember being party to, and you can see the disaster brewing when it comes to AI-driven business. People crave relationships and authentic connections, and they’re very good at noticing when that element is missing.
The most important piece of any project I’ve ever been involved with is trust. From trust flows all other successes. You can find alignment in goals and head off potential project pitfalls with an honest conversation. Or you can pivot gracefully when things aren’t working. These are all essential ingredients that don’t work without trust. Trust between people can’t be built with an LLM.
Differentiation Over Delegation
Delegating your busywork to an LLM is a great way to focus more on the high-value-added tasks your role brings to a team. But let’s not forget that everyone else can do the same thing. The way to differentiate yourself from your peers using AI will be in the human element we all bring to the table.
As we find ourselves reaching a new world of possibilities to explore with AI, remember to bring along the essential skills that will help you navigate this new landscape.