Conscious AI – how to use AI without losing your edge
AI is everywhere, and in many ways it’s been a huge benefit to those of us with an advisory, thought leadership or consulting practice. It’s promised us speed, access, productivity – and often delivered on that promise.
But there’s a hidden cognitive debt owed to cover this promise, and for thought leaders, this could undermine everything we’ve worked so hard to build – and that’s a loss of ownership over your ideas.
In other words, overreliance on AI can lead to less of our own thinking.
But this doesn’t have to be the case. There are ways to use AI that doesn’t replace our own thinking but strengthens it.
The rise of cognitive debt
MIT researchers followed 54 adults over several months while they wrote essays under different conditions. The participants were split into three groups:
The first group used no external tools (they’re brains only)
The second group used internet search engines only, such as Google
The third group used ChatGPT
The team measured essay quality and writing but also recorded the EEG brain activity of the participants as they worked, focusing on the areas responsible for memory, attention and problem solving.
What they found was that the participants who used ChatGPT for their work showed significantly reduced brain activity in those areas. And behaviourally, AI users were found to copy or lightly edit the content that AI produced instead of generating their own ideas. Worse, when the groups were switched, and the AI users were asked to write without the use of AI, their performance and brain activity dropped relative to where it had been before their use of AI.
Finally, the AI group reported that they felt less sense of ownership of their work and struggled to recall or explain their own essays.
(As an aside, the Google group showed intermediate levels of brain engagement and independence as well, lower than the group that had to do all the thinking on their own).
What is cognitive debt?
When we outsource the hardest parts of our thinking – this is generally the planning, reasoning and creating of ideas – to AI then we ‘borrow’ cognitive effort from the tool. This does save us effort in the moment, but our brains then miss out on the ‘workout’ we need to build long-term skills such as memory, critical thinking and problem solving. Over time this creates a debt known as a cognitive debt and when you have to perform on your own, you’re simply less able to do so.
In simple terms AI users are doing more but remembering less.
For thought leaders and consultants, or anyone building a business based on their IP and creative abilities, this means that you lose the opportunity to wrestle with new ideas, form opinions and connect the dots between what you know and what the future could look like.
And this will show when you speak to clients, when you have to stand up and present a keynote or when you’re delivering a workshop. If you can’t stand up right now and speak to the three main elements of your IP, then this thinking isn’t yours – or not really.
What does this mean for professionals like advisors, consultants, and thought leaders?
And this will show when you speak to clients, when you have to stand up and present a keynote or when you’re delivering a workshop. If you can’t stand up right now and speak to the three main elements of your IP, then this thinking isn’t yours – or not really.
Conscious AI use
Think first, then use AI
Brainstorm, outline or attempt the solution or creation yourself first. Then ask AI to critique it, extend it or even argue against it. This helps you develop your critical thinking skills around what you’ve created.
Ask for scaffolding, not a finished product
When you’re working on something – whether it’s new IP, a model or written content – dive into AI when you need individual pieces of support. It can help you find an example, a metaphor and even help you expand your explanations where you’re feeling stuck.
Test for ownership
As a thought leader and consultant keep your unique ‘testing conditions’ in mind. In our industry this is presenting keynotes, delivering to audiences and using your solutions to bring real value and change to your clients. Could you explain this without notes? Could you walk on stage about it tomorrow if you had to? If not, you might be leaning too heavily on the tool.
Questions to ask yourself
Before you rely on AI, it’s worth asking a few simple questions.
Did I create the core thinking myself?
Is this strengthening my understanding or bypassing it?
Could I stand up and speak on this publicly tomorrow?
Am I using this to think better, or to think less?
These are the questions that will keep you sharp in the age of AI.
