“The real problem of humanity is that we have palaeolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology.” Biologist EO Wilson

We keep looking to systems and intitutions because confronting emotions is messy. At least, that’s my read of the “build a bigger fence” school of compliance. Let’s pick ChatGPT. As stories emerge of lawyers leveraging AI to cite non-existent cases, we lurch toward chatter about “controlling AI in the workplace”.

That’s misguided without considering the case for AI first. Let’s look at the emotions. Why do I use tools like ChatGPT?

1. I’m tired and/or the creative element of my brain is smashed.
2. The 80/20 rule (80% of the way there in 20% of the time).
3. I’m curious if AI is better than me – and if it is, I’ll take credit.

In the first instance, the problem is a human one – over-work. If you give people too much work, they will look for shortcuts, cheats, and hacks. The problem is not the tech. It might be sensible to have an “if you’re getting AI to do research for you, you’re in trouble” element to your policy. Maybe adding, “check any facts”. But, it should be a discussion. I used AI recently when hitting a wall trying to rephrase three sentences in a 30-question survey. I asked AI for 10 alternates for the three lines I wasn’t happy with. None of the suggestions worked, but I picked a word/phrase from here and there to create a better composite. It helped.

In the 80/20 example, I was recently asked to provide a brief bio. I had a medium-sized one from the book and asked ChatGPT to summarise it. I could then quickly tweak the condensed version (as it’s my content). The bio doesn’t matter hugely. If you try controlling a tool people use to abbreviate unimportant tasks, you’ll ignite the fight part of the palaeolithic “lizard brain”.

Aren’t you curious if a robot is better at your job than you? Or it could be better able to express things you know but can’t communicate well enough (yet). While permitting the vanity of flattering filters (our appearance in photos to our writing) may be problematic, it’s very human. No one is on their A-game all the time. If your organisational culture expects perfection, don’t blame us when we fake it.