The Hidden Cost of AI: How Your Reputation is at Risk
The Danger of Replacing Your Voice with AI
Imagine this: It's a sunny afternoon. You're at a vibrant café, enjoying your favourite java with friends, having a lively conversation on a topic that matters to your heart. Someone approaches your table and addresses you in a robotic tone while they string a series of complex words together as if they were offering some priceless necklace.?
How do you feel about them not reading the room and using words that sound cold and empty? Are you annoyed? What about feeling confused? Maybe you are even put off by their lack of empathy.
Let's bring this scenario to what's happening online.
More and more people use large language models (LLMs) to handle their writing. On the surface, it seems like a smart move. Who doesn't want to save time? But there's a hidden cost that many aren't seeing. By relying too heavily on AI, people are making their online presence emotionally flat and, quite frankly, less human.
Do you ever wonder if your online interactions are missing that personal touch? Have you considered how using AI affects your relationships?
I often ask people if they can tell the difference between a bot and a peer reply. Of course, they can! They share stories about how obvious bot replies are. Bot texts sound like something from outer space that has never experienced feeling. And no amount of bots faking empathy can change that.
The Problem: AI's Emotional Void
Here's the issue: LLMs can generate texts quickly, but their responses lack emotional depth. They're great at spitting out information, but they don't understand the feelings behind it.
Without emotional intelligence (EQ) prompting to keep LLMs in line, you'll get bot content as emotionally void as someone faking they know you, saying they want to hang out with you but have no real intention of following through. That's what it feels like when I see bot replies to my content. Quick, fake, moving on.
Think about the last time you read a response from someone who failed to read the room. Did you eagerly want to build a relationship with that person?
Let me bring it closer to home for you. Imagine a scenario where you use an AI to draft a heartfelt response to a friend's vulnerable post. The result? The bot reply might be technically correct, but it feels as warm as a frozen dinner. That's because LLMs don't truly get human emotions.
LLMs fake empathy. It's not because we can describe something that we've lived it and mean it. So, when your friend finds you and asks you bluntly what that bot's reply was about, will you weave them a tale of how AI is saving you time and the hit to your reputation is worth it? I hope not, for your friendship's sake.
The Cost of Inaction: Why It Matters
When you let an LLM take over your written communication, you might save time, but you're also putting your relationships at risk, including the one you have with yourself. As a result, your reputation can suffer because your responses would be devoid of self-knowledge and emotional connection to others.
One of my long-term clients is a brilliant professional well-known in their field. They can treat muscle spasms, stiff necks, or running injuries like no one else can. They are kind, funny, compassionate, and highly knowledgeable in their field. They wrote an article to help their clients strengthen their pelvic floor. They offered a series of exercises. To give you an idea of their sense of humour, read Exercise #4: "Orgasms: This is nature's fun way of tricking us into exercising. Have lots of orgasms, and you can skip the rest… Just kidding! Do the actual exercise as well!"
That client wants to launch several online courses. I asked them to show me what they had come up with. They sheepishly said they had let AI write 100% of the course. I rolled my eyes when I read, "Greetings fellow..." and other words such as "delving." That fun, loving, caring professional was ‘gone,’ replaced by a robotic voice from outer space.
Like a school teacher, I asked them to sit at their desk, pick a topic dear to their heart, that they know with their eyes closed, and write 1,000 words in one swoop.
When they emailed back their draft, they said they found writing "a bit harder than anticipated. I’ve gotten so used to AI it’s been a while since I’ve actually written anything."
Overlying on AI (and large language models) atrophies EQ skills. That's the cost of inaction.
Imagine you're on LinkedIn, and someone comments on your post with a generic bot answer. You can tell they did not take the time to read and genuinely engage with your content. They were trying to save their own time. But at what cost???
You might not like what I'm going to say next. We all think that friends and peers will give us a free 'get out of jail' card for sabotaging our interactions with them with cold bot replies. But that's stretching the relationship quite a bit. And there'll come a f*ck-it point where they can't be bothered anymore. Many people don't want to admit that.
How much richer would your interactions be if you added more of your personal touch into them?
Solutions: How to Reclaim Your Voice and Develop EQ
1. Use LLM as a Tool, Not a Crutch
Instead of letting AI replace your voice, use it to augment it. For example, with AI, brainstorm topics or map out articles. Write the first draft in your voice. Then prompt AI to analyze the text for clarity, engagement, and likelihood of hire. Ask for suggestions to improve the text while maintaining your tone, voice, brand, message, and strategic objectives.
Think of an LLM as a skilled assistant, not the lead actor in your life. You are the one who is responsible for gaining insights, understanding feelings, and building up experiences. It's YOUR life. Shine.
2. Engage in Genuine Writing
Set time aside to write. It's challenging, and it's also rewarding. This process helps you understand yourself, what matters to you and why. In it, you gain clarity, focus, facility in engagement, and more. In other words, you get to hone many EQ skills.
I build well-curated Knowledge Bases for my clients. The first condition is that they must provide content that is authentically theirs, with no AI in it. I then use that content to train an LLM to reflect their voice, brand, message, and strategic objectives. A good deployed KB will reflect at least 95% of a person's voice. Anything lower than that, we start "greeting" the "delving."
Like my client above, pick a topic you care about and write a short piece from scratch. You might be surprised how good it feels to create.
3. Embrace Emotional Intelligence with Your Heart
Developing EQ sounds like such a catchphrase for the mind. However, EQ is not about emotional descriptions of feelings where the mind debates rhetorical questions. It's about where the rubber meets the road. EQ is self-knowledge in action. That is why we must have EQ to communicate effectively, including with AI models.
Practice empathy. Notice your feelings and the feelings of others.
Practice being curious about contrary opinions. They have much to teach.
Practice building up experiences. What can you do to make the interaction better?
Then go further.
Get crystal clear on what works for you emotionally. That's called discernment.
Figure things out by holding multiple perspectives. That's called critical thinking.
Push yourself beyond your comfort zone. Who is holding you accountable for you to be your authentic self everywhere? If you said, "No one" or "I am," understand that a fish can't be objective about the waters it swims in. We all need someone external to our pond to hold us accountable. That's even more EQ in action.
4. Be Mindful of Your Online Presence
Make sure your content reflects your true self. You need that to maintain your reputation, be consistent with your brand, and stay aligned with your message and strategic objectives.??
If you deploy bot content (replies, posts, tweets, etc.), how often do you review the responses to your content? Is your bot met with another bot's gibberish? Is your bot met with a reply from a real human? If, by some miracle, a real human still replied to the bot content, at what point do you personally come in to build the relationship?
I think it's safe to say that we're all tired of bot facades with their fake empathy and "human understanding." We're all hungry for real interactions.
Bot gibberish test:?
Ask yourself: Could anyone have generated this online reply? If the answer is yes, authenticity is lacking and a deployed bot might be the reason.
5. Dare greatly. Seek Feedback and Improve.
There's someone on LinkedIn whose bot fascinates me. That bot spills complex words faster than my kid could tie their shoes. Despite being told many times by many people to tweak their AI agent, that person keeps deploying cold and empty bot replies to contact posts. I have since unfollowed them. I don't have time for that. Who does?
Conclusion:
AI is a powerful tool. However, it's not a substitute for human interaction and the Emotional Intelligence in it. By relying too heavily on AI, you risk losing the emotional depth and personal touch that makes you uniquely you.
It's time to take a step back and reevaluate how you use AI and large language models in general.
Use AI to augment your voice. Embrace EQ because AI certainly can't. It's a bunch of wires powered to deliver results based on math equations.
Are you ready to reclaim your voice and enhance your EQ in all you do? Emotional Tech? can assist you. Emotional Tech? has three pillars:
The choice is yours. When you're ready, let's chat about how I can assist you and those you serve.
About Anne Beaulieu
Anne Beaulieu is at the forefront of the tech industry by integrating Emotional Intelligence, Strategic Planning, and AI Integration into organizational leadership and business strategy.?
As a seasoned expert in emotional intelligence, Anne guides tech leaders in cultivating cultures of empathy and collaboration within their organizations.?
Anne's expertise in strategic planning empowers tech leaders to navigate complex challenges to achieve their objectives, optimize resources, and drive sustainable growth.
Anne's proficiency in AI integration strategies ensures that tech leaders stay ahead of the curve in leveraging cutting-edge technologies in alignment with their strategic objectives and values.
Connect with Anne: linkedin.com/in/anne-beaulieu
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2 个月Interesting. I also recently saw a video clip about the power usage required to run AI, massive. It did not mention this aspect - water usage for cooling which the Cloud requires and I am sure AI requires even more.