Don’t make a fool of yourself: pro tips for using AI the right way

Don’t you find it outrageous when people start their emails like this: “I don’t really have time at the moment, but here’s what ChatGPT said,” leaving you to verify a bot’s hallucination?

In some cases, introducing AI as a work productivity tool doesn’t actually save you time – it can have quite the opposite effect. You might even risk looking unprofessional or offending someone.

While AI tools can assist with nearly any task, it’s important to recognize when they are truly helpful.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said that not nearly enough of his employees know how to use AI constructively. According to Business Insider, it will soon become necessary to learn how to use AI for coding. At least for Uber employees.

In other words, people will be expected to “vibe code” – an increasingly popular programming technique where a specialist describes a problem in a few sentences and lets AI write the code.

For broader AI applications in office life, consider LinkedIn COO Dan Shapero, who uses AI for three everyday tasks: summarizing meetings he can’t attend, having conversations with ChatGPT to quickly get up to speed on topics, and preparing for meetings by summarizing various documents.

"I find that having a conversation with ChatGPT can be very helpful in me learning deeply about a topic that I'm not familiar with," he told Business Insider.

My two cents on the topic: whenever you use AI for mundane tasks, consider not only how it will make your job easier, but also whether your use of AI might actually create more work for your colleagues.