Reallocating Time Saved by AI: The Art of Conversation

©The MBT Blog published by MBT Mindful Business Today

I recently attended a conference where the CEO of a cybersecurity company posed the question, “How will you reallocate the time you save by using AI?” It reminded me of discussions during a similar moment in time, when smart phones held the promise of freeing up mankind by managing our calendars, letting us work from anywhere, and supplying us with answers to any question we might think of asking. Instead of finding the benefits of more free time, we became permanently attached to our phones.

Now it seems another opportunity presents the lure of free time. We can feed information into AI and quickly receive research, or customized images to use in our advertising, or drafts of reports to use in our businesses. Freedom to live more fully is possible. How will you reallocate the time being given back to you?

For me, the answer is, “Talk to someone!” Sounds basic, but conversation is an art and one which is often forgotten. In fact, sometimes clients forgot whether they actually talked to a person. Was it a text exchange? Maybe it was a post or a video on social media. Has it happened to you? This conversational confusion has happened to me.

Does it matter? I believe it does. There is a difference between reading text – an e-mail, a text message, a post – or even listening to a video, and having a conversation. While all of these options are worthwhile and have a purpose, conversing with a real person is a completely different experience.

While AI can learn voice and tone, it cannot replace the physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits of a conversation with another person. While energy can be projected through words and pictures, reactions to the information are not communicated back. When in a conversation, body language and energy interact with words creating a full human experience.

Therefore, I am taking a stand in favor of spending some of our new free time talking to people.

Here are a few examples of people with whom to converse:

• Everyday People: Spend a minute or two asking your neighbors what is happening in their lives.
• Colleagues: Invite your co-workers for coffee or lunch.
• Clients: Meet with clients and talk about their business, their goals, their needs.
• Prospects:  Sometimes you spend so much time working, the funnel for new work runs dry. Network in meaningful ways. Meet new people. Then follow up with deeper conversations.
• Your Team: Invest in relationships with your team. Do something fun together. Ask open-ended questions during your one-on-one meetings. Learn about them as people and professionals.
• Yourself: What do you need? What helps you thrive? Ask yourself and then do some of that. If you are not sure, join our Journal in June class.

Each day, remember to listen, ask questions, and share information about yourself.

What about you? How will you reallocate your extra free time? Let’s not make another mistake and become permanently attached to Artificial Intelligence.