Wisdom, AI, and Instructional Design

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The Beginning

The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has, so far, been both impressive and disappointing. AI can do interesting things like provide a quick content outline (complete with an estimated time frame), combine a number of pieces of writing into one summarized document, and provide multiple choice questions with a quick click.

From an image perspective, AI allows for the simple erasure of backgrounds, the addition of items that were not there before, and the "out of whole cloth" creation of images, scenes and scenarios.

We can even create digital twins of ourselves and soon we will be creating movies with a prompts like "A stylish woman walks down a Tokyo street filled with warm glowing neon and animated city signage. She wears a black leather jacket, a long red dress, and black boots, and carries a black purse. She wears sunglasses and red lipstick. She walks confidently and casually. The street is damp and reflective, creating a mirror effect of the colorful lights. Many pedestrians walk about." (Sora Prompt )

However, while we can do things faster, and more efficiently, are we doing them better? Are we just speeding up processes that should be blown up? Are we ignoring a real need in organizations, is L&D missing our true calling? Are we providing content instead of addressing more critical needs?

Why do I ask?

Leadership Crisis

Well as everyone is all "gaga" about AI, a huge problem is growing even huger (FYI: "huger" a word, it is allowed in Scrabble, it's a word). The problem growing huger every day is with leadership.

There is a palpable leadership problem in all types of institutions around the world. In fact, in one survey taken at the end of 2023, more than three-quarters of those surveyed agreed with the statement, “There is a leadership crisis in corporate America today,” (Source: US News-Survey: Americans Are Down on Corporate Leadership ).

One needs to look no further than the leadership crisis at Boeing where the CEO stepped down and more heads rolled because quality and safety took a back seat to profits. The leaders at Boeing were not wise, future thinking, or even creative. They were just focused on one thing...profits. (Source: CNBC-Boeing CEO to step down in broad management shake-up as 737 Max crisis weighs on aerospace giant )

As another CNBC article states American CEOs are ‘failing’ their workers right now, says Harvard expert: ‘We’re in a crisis of trust’. That we are.

Adding to the general feeling of uneasiness, are feelings like:

• I'm 100% expendable (just ask AI)
• It's only a matter of time before I am let go (just look at the hotshots in tech companies being laid off at will)
• If I work harder is that really going to matter? Will I still be let go?
• What if I don't do more with less?

Strong, focused leadership needs to step in to help build confidence and lead employees through these uncertain times. Alas, this is not happening.

As, AI fuels the fire of poor leadership, the prevailing thought in many C-suits seems to be that people are cogs who can be let go when technology does the job (more or less) for cheaper. As an example, the automated phone system is not better for the consumer (press "1" to speak to more robots) but it's cheaper for the company and it's more or less effective...so it's deemed "better". That's a decision made by leadership.

Here is a better view but it is NOT SAFE FOR WORK by John Stewart looking at AI.

Neither example is wise leadership.

Wisdom is Missing

What L&D or talent development can contribute to the discussion, to our organizations is injecting them with a sense of urgency around building wisdom among our leaders. Forget traditional "leadership" programs, let's instead focus on crafting programs to teach wisdom at all levels.

Wisdom (which I've written about here , here , and here ) can, indeed be taught, research supports teaching it. I've done it. I've coached it. I've fostered it. And so can you. But we have to be firm in how we do it.

First, let's define wisdom. Not as some philosophical idea but as actual traits or is it skills? or is it as competencies? Whatever, let's just do it.

First an academic definition

Wisdom is best defined as a uniquely human, complex trait that includes several specific components: emotional regulation(ability to control emotions),pro-social behaviors(e.g. empathy, compassion, and altruism), self-reflection(insight or looking inward), a balance between decisiveness and acceptance of uncertainty and diversity of perspectives, and social advising (Jesteet al., 2019) as quoted in Jeste et al., 2020)

Now, let's break that into specific elements, how does a wise person think? (this isn't me, this is researched based):

1. Long Term Thinking. Decisions made by wise people encompass thinking beyond the here-and-now. Wise thinking extends to the future. Sustainability comes to mind as a form of long term thinking. Boeing should take note.
2. Informed by the past. Wise people are not anchored to the past but consider events, thoughts, and elements of the past when they make decisions. For example, one of the things that almost killed US car companies in the late 1970's is that every year they would replace one high quality item on the dashboard with a piece of plastic junk and every year that happened again. However, no one thought of the cumulative impact of one junk knob or dashboard item a year until the entire dashboard and interior felt cheap and no one wanted to buy the car. Boeing's quality problem seems eerily similar. No one thought about how all those past decisions would culminate.
3. Humanity is considered. We've all heard the phrase "it's nothing personal, it's just business." We hurt people and then cover with that phrase, we lay off someone to make numbers look good while we throw their family into turmoil--nothing personal. We justify it because we cling to numbers not to each other. Empathy is getting lost in technology.
4. Consequences are weighed. Wise people think of different possible outcomes and try to even thing of unintended outcomes which arise from every decision.
5. Reflection. Wise leaders reflect on consequences, humanity, the past, and the possible implications of their decisions.

Instructional Design

So where does instructional design fit into all of this talk about AI and leadership. Those of us who design instruction for a living or who teach others have a responsibility to begin to work into our instruction moments where we teach wisdom (we should now have time to do that as AI makes content creation easier). These are moments where we teach people to be wise in their decision making.

We need to work in moments that are not 100% content based but are designed to teach reflection, how to weigh consequences, or how to view a problem from multiple angles. We can't nor do we need to teach all content, it can be looked up or even created at the touch of a finger but what can't be created instantly are wise decisions, carefully considered recommendations, and sharing of specific anecdotes that teach a specific lesson in the moment. Are you teaching any of this? Is this sort of thing designed into your instruction?

Final Thoughts

As, P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India, has said: “Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual."

Teaching others, in any capacity, is a noble calling but what we need to teach has changed. Content is not king any more, what is king is wise-counsel, measured approaches, balanced input. We can't expect the shift in instructional design to start somewhere else, the change we want in the world starts with our change in the design of our instruction.

Vow today to add into your content, moments of wisdom. Teach others to be wise, it's the noblest of ventures and it is within our control.

References:

Jeste, Dilip V. MD; Lee, Ellen E. MD. The Emerging Empirical Science of Wisdom: Definition, Measurement, Neurobiology, Longevity, and Interventions. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 27(3):p 127-140, 5/6 2019. | DOI: 10.1097/HRP.0000000000000205

Jeste, D., Graham, S., Nguyen, T., Depp, C., Lee, E., & Kim, H. (2020). Beyond artificial intelligence: exploring artificial wisdom. International Psychogeriatrics, 32(8), 993-1001. Report #: PII S1041610220000927. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1041610220000927 Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6z338854

Bio

Karl Kapp is a professor at Commonwealth?University (formerly Bloomsburg University). He works globally helping organizations accelerate expertise using an evidence-based approach. He teaches a graduate course on AI and frequently keynotes on the topic. He is passionate about helping others and thus is the co-founder of the L&D Mentor Academy , a members only group that explores the technology, business acumen and concepts required to take L&D professional's careers to the next level. Apply to Join today.

Additionally, Karl is co-founder of?Enterprise Game Stack, a serious games company that creates digitized card games for learning ranging from interactive role-play games to sorting activities and everything in-between. Find out more at Enterprise Game Stack .