AI as a thought partner
AI as a thought partner
To make AI work for you, become a power user and use it to enhance your critical thinking.
In the last year, we’ve seen generative AI go from being novelty, to increasingly, a bit of a pariah. Many smart people are calling it an AI bubble, one that has been overhyped.
If you subscribe to this view, you may be thinking something along these lines:
“After a lot of hype, we’ve come to the realization that a lot of ChatGPT’s output is generic, awkward, and just not good enough for what we need it to do in the public affairs space.”
If you’ve scratched the surface with this technology, then I don’t blame you for holding this view. You’re in the majority: few people are getting tangible ROI from generative AI.
Only 10% of the global knowledge workforce is using ChatGPT.
In the last year. ChatGPT has experienced traffic declines and growth has flatlined.
Here’s the mistake most of these people are making: they aren’t putting in the effort to become power users.
This is not a small mistake. It’s a big one, akin to shoving your head in the sand 5 years ago and insisting Slack and Teams weren’t serious tools of work.
It’s like assuming that the most effective media channel for your campaign was always going to be television.
Or continuing to argue that buying a print ad in the Globe and Mail is a great use money. It’s obviously ridiculous.
In 5 years’ time, it will seem obviously ridiculous that to be exceptional at your trade craft, you should be an AI power user.
If you’re already dismissing AI, or haven’t progressed beyond asking it to summarize a document, or write a lame speech, you’re failing yourself.
Few have discovered the best use case for AI: as a thought partner.
Greg Shove wrote an excellent piece on this last week:
…very few people are using AI to “think.” When I talk to those who do, they share that use case almost like a secret. They’re amazed AI can act as a trusted adviser — and reliably gut-check decisions, pre-empt the boss’s feedback, or outline options.
Last year, Boston Consulting Group, Harvard Business School, and Wharton released a study that compared two groups of BCG consultants — those with access to AI and those without. The consultants with AI completed 12% more tasks and did so 25% faster. They also produced results their bosses thought were 40% better. Consultants are thought partners, and AI is Super Soldier Serum.
Smart people are quick to dismiss AI as a cognitive teammate. They think it can automate call center operators — but not them, because they’re further up the knowledge-work food chain. But if AI can make a BCG consultant 40% stronger, why not most of the knowledge workforce? Why not a CEO? Why not you? (emphasis added)
If you have been following my tutorials and guides since I launched this Substack in January, you’ll see that I have increasingly leaned into using AI as a thought partner. If you’re a new subscriber, or stumbling across this Substack for the first time, here are a few fascinating ways we’ve unlocked AI’s potential as a thought partner:
Plan for black swan events
AI can help you imagine different scenarios that could throw your public affairs strategy off kilter. The problem we often have is failing to get creative enough in imagining the ways in which our best laid plans can get punched in the face. But with a few thoughtful prompts, AI can help you expand your view and prompt you to think with a fresh perspective.
Write creative messaging
In public affairs, it’s easy to use the same frameworks, style, and tone. When you find yourself in a creative rut and need to freshen things up, AI can help you use creative devices like the curiosity gap to improve your message. ChatGPT rarely writes exceptional messaging or scripts out of the gate. But it can provide you with hooks and help you reframe your messaging.
We did this recently with a video script.
We have also used AI to think through writing a creative brief.
And it can be helpful in developing a message house.
Stress test your strategy
I’ve organized 21 immutable laws of regulatory campaigns, based on my 20+ years’ experience in public affairs and political campaigns. AI can use these laws to stress test your strategy, campaign, or even operational decisions. As I detailed in one of my tutorials, you can use these laws to develop a comprehensive strategy for navigating the complex landscape of regulatory challenges, from corporate activism and consumer mobilization to political interference and regulatory burden.
Understand your audience
Another challenge we have in this line of work, especially if we don’t have a dedicated research budget, is to put ourselves in our target audiences’ shoes. Easier to do when you can run focus groups. But we don’t always have that luxury. AI can help you better understand your audience, place yourself in their shoes, understand why they may object to your campaign or cause, and understand the values that could be driving those objects. Unlocking audience empathy can be done in 7 steps. Imaging doing this before AI?
When you learn to use AI well, it is a nearly free expert, available to you 24/7, with an impressive range of expertise. And it just gets it done, no matter what mood you’re in.
In five years, the best practitioners in our space will have set their ego aside and embrace the opportunity to use this technology to make themselves 40% better.