When AI Is Making You Less Productive: the "Verschlimmbessern" Problem

Use this simple 5-step process to make sure your interactions with AI are actually helping you.

One of the remaining sections of the Berlin Wall. Photo credit: yours truly.

Hi friend,

I recently talked to a client who was struggling with going to bed early. The problem? Late-night conversations… with AI.

As we discussed this more, my client said that he wasn’t sure if his AI conversations were always more helpful than a simple google search might have been.

I could relate to that question. You see, over the last months, I got used to asking AI for feedback on my writing.

But over time, I noticed something curious: using AI to improve my writing actually led to fewer interactions with people. My emails might have sounded better, but they resonated less. Fewer people responded or commented. There was less connection.

And, to add insult to injury, whenever I got AI’s input on my emails or articles, it often took me longer to write them! (Wasn’t AI supposed to be a time-saver?)

Using AI for productivity is a double-edge sword

Here’s the problem when we use AI for productivity: There’s no strength without a corresponding weakness.

Take, for instance, someone who’s physically imposing. People might be less likely to attack them—that’s a strength. But it’s also a weakness—people might be less likely to feel safe around them.

The strength of AI—unlimited time—is also its weakness.

Having AI as an infinitely patient conversation partner can be helpful in some areas. However, when it comes to productivity (let alone creativity), that’s not necessarily the case.

Creativity, and productivity, thrive within limits—as anyone who has ever had to meet a deadline can confirm.

In German, we have a word that’s called verschlimmbessern (this translates to something like “worse-improving”). It’s when you make things worse by trying to make them better. Because AI has unlimited time, AI is very prone to verschlimmbessern.

Sure, you could say that it has improved my emails and articles. But in improving it, it also removed my individual voice from it. That’s not improving, that’s worse-improving.

And because it has unlimited time on its hands, it also over-polished my writing. But an email isn’t silver cutlery. An email doesn’t need polishing.

It needs sending.

How to stop AI from “verschlimmbessern” your work output

If you want to make sure AI is actually making your work better, try this simple, 5-step process:

1. Pretend you have temporary AI amnesia

   For a moment, pretend you have forgotten everything people say about AI. There are a lot of opinions about it floating around, but nobody else is in the exact same situation you are in. So, in some ways, their opinions are completely irrelevant. You have permission to discard them.

2. Set a clear intention for your interaction with AI

   Before working with AI, set a clear intention for what you want to get out of the interaction. Write that intention somewhere you can see it.

3. Set a time limit
   Decide how much time you want to spend interacting with AI. Before you get started, set an alarm on your phone.

4. Assess your AI session

   When the alarm goes off, read through your intention again. Has your interaction with AI been in alignment with that intention? On a scale of 1-5 (with 1 being a waste of time and 5 being super-helpful), how useful has it been in actually creating results?

5. Decide on your next steps

   Taking into account your assessment, decide what you want to do now. Do you want to continue working with AI on this? Or just handle it by yourself and/or with the input from other humans (who, like you, don’t have unlimited time)?

Takeaway

While a human needs to sleep at some point, my client’s AI conversation partner was able to keep going and going and going and going.

Same with my AI writing editor.

Every strength has a corresponding weakness. AI’s strength of unlimited time is also a weakness, and it can make things worse.

To avoid this in your next AI interaction, give yourself permission to ignore other people’s opinions about AI, set a clear intention and time limit for your session, assess the usefulness of your AI interaction when the time is up… and then decide what you want to do based on that.

In my case, I have decided to experiment with going old-school (if 2020 can be called old-school): no more AI input on my writing for now.

There we have it: an article that’s written entirely without AI. Turns out, it was faster and more fun to write. And, for better or worse, it’s entirely in my own voice.

Warmly,
Louise

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