Who determines your future?

Generative AI (shortly Gen AI) can be your consultant, assistant - but do not let it be your primary driver in critical decisions. You should never forget your “gut feelings”, your intuition as well as your network of close friends and advisors. Gen AI should only be your “second opinion” provider.

In her article for Forbes, discussing 7 ChatGPT Prompts To Overcome Imposter Syndrome, Jodie Cook talks about prioritizing things and trying to say no with conviction. Here is her suggested (example) prompt: “The following five opportunities have come up, but I can only say yes to one of them. [List the opportunities]. Help me prioritize which one to accept based on my goal of [describe your one business goal]. Then write four extremely elegant notes to decline the other opportunities. The decline emails should be respectful and preserve those relationships for the future.”

The more I investigated this prompt, the more doubts I had. Yes, it is great to consult with someone, even if it is “the machine”, surely such consultation also sharpens, articulates, and clears your thoughts. It is also great to get some ideas about how to decline an opportunity in an elegant and persuasive way.

But – there is an important but. Can I really enter such a prompt that would include all my goals, my characteristics, preferences, a multitude of variables that normally play a decisive role in dealing with opportunities? And even if I could (but, hey, there would be hundreds of words and explanations), many decisions involve non-rational factors. Our “gut feelings” and our intuition play an important role in our critical decisions. As well as the opinions of our close friends or co-workers. None of these can be truly entered as a prompt into ChatGPT or similar tools. You intuition and your close friends` deep understanding of you always supersede any verbal expression you can make in this world!

So, I would check with Gen AI only in case of a serious tie, but only check – to get one more “opinion”. And, when I decide for “no”, I would not blindly follow ChatGPT suggested response, but would – and I do – always add some personal notes. People know your language style, and machine-generated response will not sound authentically. Yet, authentic messages are the ones which people accept.

So, before you start (possibly too long) conversations with Gen AI about critical decisions, think about yourself, your ability to prioritize and decide, listen to your intuition, ask your close friends, partners, advisors. In between, you can use Gen AI (if you want) to potentially find some extra perspectives that will help you decide.