How thinking about a full glass of wine can make us stronger writers -- with/without AI
It is . . . and isn't . . .what you think
Fellow teachers will recognize the “feeling seen” moment when your undergraduates use their language to express your ideas to their peers.
Recently, a bright young computer scientist helped me translate my (most likely) overcomplicated lesson on the perils of over reliance on AI to brainstorm.
“It’s like the full glass of wine problem,” he said. “Early models of Generative AI could not return a completely full glass of wine when prompted because models can only pull from available data. Since advertisers and online images don’t show full glasses of wine (filled to the very top), the models could not return a full glass.”
Exactly. When writers rely on generative AI to brainstorm, ideas are generated from available data. Yet, creatives create. Our best ideas may not yet exist in the available data*. So, I am leery of a communication professional who announces they use AI to brainstorm. Most of us can do that now, too. Why would we need you?
To be fair, recent models have improved . . . and . . . it’s a lot of data from which to pull. Sometimes, thinking about large language models reminds me of when I got to visit the tippy top of the U.S. Capitol (thanks Congressman Castle.) That view helped me understand the pattern of DC traffic and gave me this “oh, wow, it all DOES make sense from here” perspective. To this day, I will get lost driving one town over in Pennsylvania, but seeing that pattern from above gave me DC driving superpowers.
So, yes, large language models —- like being able to recognize patterns and draw from massive amounts of data — have value to writers. However, I am not convinced that idea generation is one of them. Everyone repeat my favorite saying with me. AI does not make weak writers strong; rather it makes strong writers fast. And, fast has value in strategic communication.
But, as I tell my students, if I wanted to know what the AI bot thinks of your speech topic, I’d prompt it myself. I illustrate this fact by asking students to use generative AI to develop an attention getter and then paste that introduction into a discussion board post. Even in a class of just thirty, generative AI returns the same stale ideas and even the same opening stories. . . with the same character names.
To be fair, the ability to generate human-centered content depends on the user’s experience with the technology, depth of experience in the field, and type of platform used. Yet, watching my students’ facial expressions as they see how much of content returned is the same makes me smile. My students have experienced the full glass of wine problem.
We’ve long passed the “use or don’t use AI” in strategic communication conversation. Smart communicators are thinking about how to use it responsibly, ethically and effectively. Many use multiple programs to refine, polish, analyze, and develop their content.
But, idea creation is one of the superpowers of effective communicators. We know how to localize topics, narrow the idea, tap into currency, add celebrity, incorporate the impact numbers, flip the topic, and add the human interest.
A popular saying making the rounds these days is that if AI can take 70 percent of jobs, then you’d better be d*mn good at the remaining 30 percent. Idea generation is part of that 30 percent. Don’t outsource that task to generative AI.
Maybe the saying “oh AI is just a tool for brainstorming” helps quell our anxiety about this massive change. However, accepting that tech marketing message thwarts one of our most important contributions.
Instead, be confident in your powers of observation and creativity. Read my post on perils of oversimplifying AI education . Note the advice about how writers find creative ideas and how to develop a better answer to “what do you use generative AI for?”
And then, if you’d like, go and get a full glass of wine . . .however you interpret that prompt.
Need help figuring out this AI stuff or a keynote speaker to address your conference or meeting? Connect with me via LinkedIn or visit Travisnco.com
*and yes, the whole whose data is it anyway is a topic worthy of a graduate-level course….can’t do that one justice in a Substack, but you get my point.
Great stuff as always. Prescient and insightful.