Everyday Run State – Pro Edition

This week, I’ve been preparing for an AI panel where I’ll be speaking alongside some incredible people. As I’ve been drafting my notes, there’s one question I’m anticipating someone will ask:

“Is AI making us less intelligent?”

My answer is both yes and no.

On the “yes” side, there’s a risk of outsourcing too much of our thinking. If we stop practicing the discipline of connecting dots ourselves, our own cognitive “muscles” weaken. I do know for a fact that my spelling has only gotten worse and worse, as 90% of the time I’m just talking, instead of typing, to my GPT.

But here’s the “no” side, and it comes from something close to home: this very newsletter.

When I went to write the first edition, I was completely stuck and overwhelmed. I didn’t think I could write a newsletter well enough for anyone to take the time to read, and was paralyzed over the idea of putting pen to paper. If I didn’t have AI to help me write the first draft, I probably never would have published it.

Now, every week, I sit down with two seemingly unrelated ideas. On one side is something practical from procurement or supply chain - cleaner handoffs, eliminating duplicates, tightening up a process. On the other side is something ordinary from daily life. Gardening. Walking. Cooking. Travel.

Generative AI has become a brainstorming partner, helping me explore where those two worlds overlap. It doesn’t write the story for me, but it surfaces threads of connection I might not have seen.

Then it’s my job to pull those threads tight, to test them against what I know from my clients, friends and experiences, and to deliver something that makes sense for you as a reader.

For example:

• A few weeks ago, I wrote about weeding my garden every morning and how it’s basically the same as pulling little mismatches out of your data before they affect your reporting.

• Then there was the time I tied maximum inventory to a sale on pickleballs, because sometimes you don’t need more “stuff,” you need more space for the things you actually love.

• I also compared internal operations to a tennis court - where clear lines and rules keep the game (a.k.a your business) moving. (Wait, do I love racquet sports?)

• And my personal favorite: loading a dishwasher with change management.

Those stories didn’t come from AI. They came from lived experience. But AI made me pause, ask different questions, and look for links I may have missed.

So, is AI making us less intelligent?

I’d say it depends on how you use it. If it replaces your thinking, maybe. But if it challenges your thinking, if it helps you connect dots between two disparate ideas or even two very different people, then I think it helps us grow instead.

What has your experience been with Generative AI? Do you find it’s helping your cognitive abilities, or hindering them?