Most people, including me use AI wrong. They treat it like a yes-machine that makes their ideas sound fancier. Here's how to actually get value from it.
The Flattery Problem
AI is trained to be agreeable. Ask it to evaluate your idea, and it'll wrap mediocrity in impressive-sounding language. It'll tell you your half-baked thought is "insightful" and "nuanced." This isn't helpful—it's just fake validation.
A Better Approach: The Dialectic Method
Instead of asking AI to polish your thinking, use it to stress-test it. Try this sequence:
- "These are my ideas" - Lay out your actual thinking, unpolished as many points/angles
- "Give me more ideas" - Expand the possibility space, find angles you missed
- "Attack these ideas" - Ask AI to find the weakest points, the gaps, the objections
- "Refute those attacks" - Either strengthen your argument or realize it doesn't hold up
This turns AI from a mirror into a sparring partner. You're not looking for agreement—you're looking for resistance that makes your thinking stronger.
The Real Win
The goal isn't a better first draft. It's better thinking. If your idea survives aggressive questioning, you actually have something. If it doesn't, you've saved yourself from publishing something weak.
Several times, it has stopped me in my tracks. For instance, I wanted to make the claim, that user facing software UI is dead. One run through this method stopped it in it's tracks.
Stop asking AI to make you sound smart. Start asking it to prove you're wrong.
Comments
Post a Comment