I have resisted it for a long time, but now I love ChatGPT. I’m using it at every opportunity and it’s really helping me do a lot of things quicker, more efficiently, and is saving me time. However, I’m becoming more and more aware that every time I use artificial intelligence, I’m neglecting the other AI that is far more powerful. That is my actual intelligence.
You may have heard of a term called ‘atrophy’. The definition is; partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. For example, when someone breaks a leg, is in plaster, and doesn’t use certain muscles for a period of time, those muscles start to waste away. Atrophy doesn’t just occur in muscles that are unused. When you rely on eyeglasses for your sight, your natural vision will deteriorate. Any relationships you don’t pay attention to will waste away, a business that’s not focused on will start to fail, and most importantly actual intelligence that’s not used will erode.
I am totally in awe of my brain. Yes, there are times it tells me lies, times it leads me down the wrong path, and times I wish I could turn it off. However, it does incredible things. How it could possibly envision that I could become an author at a time when it seems so unlikely and then actually go on to do it is a miracle. How it helps me solve problems, create opportunities, negotiate with people, write blogs, and all the other amazing stuff it does, leaves me in awe.
However, the more I am getting into ChatGPT and artificial intelligence, the less I’m using my actual intelligence, and it is starting to atrophy. When I think about the reasons I use AI, the number one reason is to save time. Wrong reason. Why? Because the time I may be saving by using ChatGPT, I am using to do something that I really don’t need to be doing. So, I just need to get better at prioritising my time so I can use my actual intelligence instead of farming it out.
The other reason I use it is because I can’t be bothered thinking for myself about what to do. Again, wrong reason and I think it’s pretty obvious why. Really, what ChatGPT does is use other people’s brains to do something I’m fully capable of doing myself. And as I use it, and become dependent on it, I’m diminishing my own actual intelligence, my own problem-solving mind, and my own creativity.
We have been created with the most incredible body, and the most powerful mind that can help us solve, create, imagine, and live any possibility that we’re willing to conceive, believe, and then act on. Using chat GPT is like putting our brain in the cast. The longer it stays in the cast, the more it will waste away. I’m certainly not suggesting that you stop using AI, as I’m not intending to. However, I am very conscious of not wanting to get to the point that I’m destroying my actual intelligence.
For me, there’s something so wonderfully satisfying about solving a problem. There’s something so fabulously fulfilling about writing a chapter in my book that sounds great. There’s something incredible about knowing that the person reading this blog will be moved in a way that will help them in their life. There’s something very comforting, knowing that I can create any outcome in my life I choose. There’s something very special about knowing that my actual intelligence is exactly what I need to make a difference in this world. May I say, the same is exactly true for you.
Please, focus on your actual intelligence. Understand that you are incredible, just as you’ve been created. Understand that you don’t need ChatGPT or artificial intelligence to live a fulfilling, meaningful, abundant, and joyful life. Use it as a tool, but don’t rely on it to do your thinking for you. The brain you have relies on being used and will keep doing incredible things the more you use it and pay attention to your actual intelligence.
My podcasts this week are with Kate Watson, called The gift of giving, and Mark Hicks, called Love is the answer. In both podcasts, I encourage you to pay attention to the power of the human mind, and what it can manifest in our lives, specifically around love, giving, and becoming the best human you can be. I don’t believe artificial intelligence can do that for you.
If you’ve read this blog, thank you and well done. You have engaged your actual intelligence. Now, I hope you’ll take that incredible intelligence, apply it, and use it to transform your life into a beautiful reality. AI is incredible. Just make sure the vast majority of the AI you use is actual intelligence.