The article AI hype: Why we should slow down a gear first appeared in the online magazine BASIC thinking. With our newsletter UPDATE you can start the day well informed every morning.
AI is currently accelerating everything: work, communication and creativity. But the more tools, updates and promises bombard us, the more often we feel overwhelmed. The AI hype creates more progress than movement. How we use the Christmas season to slow down.
Do you ever feel like progress feels like noise rather than movement? That everything is important and urgent? As if progress were an engine, but instead of acceleration it only produces high speeds? The Christmas season is the ideal time to reflect on the meaning and reason for acceleration.
AI hype: unrest instead of progress
“If you slow down, you lose,” is what I often hear commentators and influencers saying these days. Developments in the field of AI support this. No sooner have you understood what a new tool can do than the next one is just around the corner.
Almost every day there are new models, new agents and therefore new, promising promises. And somewhere in the middle of it all you might be sitting – interested, open, curious, but also with the feeling: I can hardly keep up.
I’ve had an image of this situation in my head for a long time, namely that of an engine that revs extremely high when idling. The engine sounds powerful due to the speed and appears extremely powerful. However, the car in which the engine is located does not move.
I currently have the feeling that what is currently happening in AI feels like the picture I described. A lot is happening in the AI area, but internally, among the (potential) users, this creates more unrest than progress.
That’s why Christmas this year may be exactly the moment when your perspective on AI should change. And by that I don’t mean taking a sentimental break, but rather consciously “taking your foot off the accelerator.” Not to stop, but to become clear about the direction you want to go.
When possibilities become overwhelming
AI is currently an accelerator for everything: for work, for communication, for creativity (although that is questionable), but also for expectations. You can do an incredible amount with and through AI today. The problem is not the lack of options, but rather their abundance.
The more there are possible, the harder it is to choose. This phenomenon is known as the so-called “selection paradox”. But the harder the choice, the greater the internal pressure not to miss anything.
If this is reinforced by constantly new stimuli, such as in the current AI and digital environment with the rapid developments there, then this leads to the exhausting feeling of always having to “stick with it”. If you don’t stick with it, you’ll miss something. Attention is the currency and speed is the pacesetter.
When it comes to AI, there are new headlines, new game changers and new promises from providers every day. An endurance run quickly threatens – without a goal, but with an increased heart rate. What is missing, however, is a result, i.e. the goal of the endurance run.
Because if the supposed goal is to try out the “final” stage of development, for example in the area of generative AI, then this will not be achieved because the next stage of improvement or the new, “groundbreaking” tool has already been announced and wants to be tried out. As a result, you achieve nothing, but you have the feeling that you are constantly active. Idle, but endless activity.
AI hype: idling is deceptive
That’s exactly the tricky thing about idling: it feels like activity. You read articles about new AI tools, watch videos, test prompts, save links, try out tools.
From the outside it looks like you are highly productive. But inside you often only have the feeling that nothing really sticks and that nothing really gets you any further.
In my opinion, the reason for this is simple: energy or activity without direction does not produce movement. If you let yourself drift from one topic to the next, you lose sight of the big picture.
With regard to AI, this means that AI does not become a tool, but rather an additional stress factor. AI is actually supposed to provide relief. Instead, you get activity without direction and therefore without arrival.
Christmas as an invitation to a change of perspective
So what do you do to stop idling? I think you already know the answer: arrive. In this context, arriving does not mean ignoring every development.
In this context, I understand arrival to mean that you orient yourself again. It means briefly reducing your speed to find the next gear and then consciously choosing your direction. And Christmas is the ideal time for this.
The Christmas season is probably one of the few times in society when slowness does not have to be explained or justified. Things can be left undone and answers and appointments can wait. Therein lies an opportunity. Instead of asking: “What can AI do?” try: “What do I actually want to use it for?”
Thought exercise: Why do you need AI?
This change in perspective is crucial. And the following simple exercise will help you do it. Imagine if you were only allowed to use AI for three things in your everyday life. Not ten. Not everything. Only three. Which would those be?
The moment you commit to these three areas of application, something important happens: clarity arises. Suddenly it’s no longer about options, but about priorities.
Because whoever decides FOR something, automatically decides AGAINST something. Through this simple thought exercise, AI becomes more concrete, more tangible and ultimately more useful for your applications.
From AI hype to habit
Many users, as I see again and again in my trainings and keynotes, fail not so much to understand AI but to use it sustainably.
They try a lot, especially a lot of new things, but establish little. The result is effects, but not routines. The true added value almost always arises where AI becomes part of a fixed process.
That’s why it’s not the first “wow moment” that’s crucial, but the tenth, fifteenth or twentieth use when you realize: This saves me time, makes my work better or gives me peace of mind. This is exactly where you can see whether technology really helps or just keeps you busy.
You don’t need a perfect prompt or every new feature. Rather, you need a framework and a plan, a conscious decision about what you want to focus on for a while and what you don’t.
Not having to take part in everything is a luxury.
Perhaps this is the most mature realization, with Christmas being the perfect time for it, that you don’t have to understand everything right away. You don’t have to test every new tool. And you are not backwards once you observe things.
Especially in the AI world, relevance does not come from speed, but from accuracy. A tool is useful if it solves a specific problem.
From “What’s up?” to “What should?”
AI in general and the new AI tools in particular currently answer one question above all: What is possible? Christmas invites you to ask the quiet but more important question: What should actually happen?
If you want to be more specific, ask yourself:
What should be easier in the coming year?
What should be eliminated?
And what should remain?
If you allow yourself to ask these questions, AI will lose its pressure. It goes from being a pacesetter to a tool. From stressor to resource. And that’s exactly when you can really put them to good use.
Perhaps that’s why the best AI strategy around Christmas is not a new tool, but a moment of calm, a conscious release of the accelerator.
And maybe that’s exactly the point at which you realize: The engine is allowed to turn – but only if you know why, in which gear and in which direction.
With these thoughts I wish you a “Merry Christmas”.
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The article AI hype: Why we should slow down a gear appeared first on BASIC thinking. Follow us too Google News and Flipboard or subscribe to our newsletter UPDATE.
As a Tech Industry expert, I believe that the hype surrounding AI needs to be tempered with a dose of realism. While AI has the potential to revolutionize countless industries and improve our lives in many ways, there are also significant challenges and limitations that need to be addressed.
One reason we should slow down the hype around AI is the risk of inflated expectations. Many companies and individuals believe that AI is a magic bullet that can solve all of their problems, but the reality is that AI is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires careful planning, implementation, and ongoing management to be effective.
Another reason to slow down the hype is the ethical implications of AI. As AI becomes more advanced and autonomous, there are serious concerns about issues such as bias, privacy, and accountability. It is crucial that we take the time to address these ethical considerations before rushing headlong into widespread adoption of AI technologies.
Finally, we should slow down the hype around AI to ensure that we are investing our resources wisely. There is a tendency in the tech industry to chase the latest trends and technologies without fully considering their long-term impact. By taking a more measured approach to AI development, we can ensure that we are prioritizing the most important problems and opportunities.
In conclusion, while AI has incredible potential, it is important that we approach its development and deployment with caution and thoughtfulness. By slowing down the hype and focusing on responsible and ethical AI practices, we can ensure that we are harnessing the power of AI in a way that benefits society as a whole.
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