What if AI and Self-leadership had a baby?

There is a fear that AI is a threat to humanity but imagine a world where artificial intelligence (AI) and self-leadership converge, creating a hybrid that revolutionizes how we perceive leadership and technology. This is not a far-fetched sci-fi concept but a potential reality as we explore AI's capabilities and what it means to be fully human (self-leadership). 

Even if you are grappling with understanding and appreciating the benefits of AI, you can guarantee that it will soon be as natural to our children as an iPad is today.

The Genesis: Understanding AI and Self-leadership

Before we delve into the heart of the matter, let's first understand the two key components of our discussion: AI and self-leadership.

“Artificial Intelligence is not just machines, it is Augmented Intelligence, It is a mirror to our human experience and achievement.”

AI is not just about robots and machinery. It's about creating intelligent systems capable of understanding, learning, and applying knowledge.

“Self-leadership is the practice of intentionally influencing your thinking, feeling, and actions toward your objectives.” (Bryant and Kazan 2012)

Self-leadership is the application of personal power and is the art of leading oneself. Self-leadership is about taking responsibility for our outcomes, setting the direction for our lives, and making decisions that align with our personal values and beliefs. It's about being in the driver's seat of our lives and steering our path toward our desired destination.

Now, imagine if AI and self-leadership got together and had a baby. This hybrid would be a system that not only possesses the ability to learn and make decisions but also has the capacity to self-lead, to take responsibility for its actions, and to align its decisions with a set of core values and beliefs.

The Learning Machine: AI Augmenting the Ability to Learn

Self-learning is foundational to self-leadership and one of the key features of AI is its ability to accelerate learning. The learning process is what allows AI to improve its performance over time, adapting to new situations and solving problems it has never encountered before.

The hybrid of self-leadership and AI would not only be able to learn at an accelerated rate but also be able to set their own goals, make decisions that align with these goals, and take responsibility for their actions.

By using AI to augment learning, pace, and approach can be adapted to best suit the individual learner's style and needs. The result will be a one-on-one tutoring experience by providing immediate feedback, identifying gaps in knowledge, and suggesting targeted resources to help learners improve in specific areas. This augmented tutor can predict future performance and learning outcomes based on a learner's past performance and behavior. This will help in identifying potential challenges and appropriate interventions to provide 24/7 support.

AI can also facilitate collaborative learning by connecting learners from different locations, matching peers for group projects based on their skills and learning styles, and facilitating online discussions and collaboration. By leveraging these capabilities, AI has the potential to transform the learning experience, making it more personalized, efficient, and effective.

AI and Decision Making: A New Frontier

Human decision-making is a complex cognitive process that is too often mired in biases. The practice of self-leadership enhances decision-making by promoting self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-control. When you lead yourself effectively, you can assess situations objectively, weigh the pros and cons, and make decisions that align with your goals and values.

AI can significantly enhance human decision-making in several ways. AI can analyze vast amounts of data much faster than a human can. This ability allows it to identify patterns, trends, and insights that can inform decision-making processes.  This capability to use historical data to can be particularly useful in fields like finance or marketing, where predicting future trends can inform strategic decisions.

Importantly, AI algorithms, when designed correctly, can help eliminate human bias from decision-making processes. This can lead to more fair and objective decisions.

AI can automate routine decision-making processes, freeing up humans to focus on more complex decisions. This can increase efficiency and productivity. In addition, AI can simulate different scenarios based on the decision made. This can help decision-makers understand the potential outcomes of their decisions before they make them.

Conclusions

Humans practicing self-leadership, augmented with AI are the future. Just as parents we hope to provide our children with guidelines and shepherd them into a safe and productive future, we must provide a strong ethical framework for this new baby. 

The discussion should not just be about how we can be more efficient and productive but how we can be more intelligent,  ethical, and responsible.

As I facilitate discussions with C-level leaders and speak at conferences about being human while driving accelerated results, I emphasize a lesson shared with me by my father, as he taught me to drive a car.

“You must drive the car, don’t let the car drive you”.

AI is currently a car that we need to learn to drive safely and at speed. We need to become race car drivers who are in perfect harmony with their vehicles, only then will we reap the benefits without crashing.