Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly infiltrating our daily lives. It does everything from providing personalized book and movie recommendations to supporting the generation of videos, presentations, and articles at work. This is a welcome development for human productivity. At the same time, we find ourselves at a crossroads. The more we rely on AI, the greater the danger of surrendering our authentic selves to algorithmic influences. This article highlights why it’s essential to couple AI with focused improvement of self-awareness.
AI needs a built-in feedback loop to ensure effectiveness and quality over time. The more we use it to help us act and think, the more we become the only one capable of giving the right feedback. For this reason, knowledge of self is crucial.
The problem: Self-awareness is Widely Lacking
The issue is that studies have shown that only a small minority of people know themselves well. Organizational psychologist Tasha Eurich describes the results of a wide-ranging study of self-awareness in an article in the Harvard Business Review. Only 10%-15% of 5.000 individuals met the criteria for possessing a high level of self-awareness. While most people think they know themselves well, they often do not. The combination of good internal and external self-awareness is very rare. The article also highlights that introspection is not always effective in improving self-awareness. Rather, knowledge of how other people see us is equally important.
The Risks of Blindly Trusting AI Insights
AI’s role in shaping our decisions has become evident in various aspects of our lives. Algorithms take our personal data and do a great deal of thinking for us and gets to know us better. The more AI understands us, the more we must understand ourselves. In the case of personal usage of AI, feedback to the machine should come from knowing what we would have done without its influence. Blindly following AI-generated suggestions without deeper consideration, we risk letting algorithms define who we are.
Preserving Human Uniqueness Amid AI Integration
We should maintain self-awareness to avoid losing what makes us uniquely human. Counteracting AI’s homogenizing effects requires increased reflection and focused independence. While AI complements our lives, we can’t let it dictate our actions. Technology supporting humanity involves a depth of understanding that goes beyond algorithms.
Action Points for Enhanced Self-Awareness
- Regular Self-Reflection: Focus on knowing your inner driving force. Reflecting on thoughts and experiences helps maintain individuality.
- Increase Communication with Others: Engage in meaningful conversations with people from diverse backgrounds. Embracing diverse perspectives fosters personal growth and enriches self-awareness.
- Limiting AI Dependence: Consciously balance AI influence on decision-making. Leverage AI for efficiency but make independent choices guided by personal judgment and values.
- Diversify Information Sources: Access information from various sources and viewpoints. This helps prevent algorithmic bias from narrowing your understanding of the world.
These actions help curate both internal and external self-awareness. They help ensure that AI will be a supportive companion with a healthy level of influence.
Navigating the AI-Human Interface
It’s important to couple AI with focused improvement of self-awareness. AI offers unprecedented convenience and efficiency. Yet, we face a profound challenge in our relationship with AI: the risk of eroding our authentic selves due to external influences. The challenge lies in maintaining a delicate balance between efficiency and self-awareness. We need to recognize AI’s limitations and actively cultivate our knowledge of our inner driving force. By improving self-awareness, we can navigate the AI era while preserving the essence of what makes us uniquely human. Only a small minority, 10%-15%, have a high level of self-awareness, so a conscious effort to bridge this gap is necessary.
Check out these other sources of information on this topic:
The book AI & Data Literacy by Bill Schmarzo
Our article on how Generative AI augments human intelligence: AI should be seen as augmenting jobs instead of replacing them (leaders-of-digital-change.com)
