What happens when AI, deep fake, and ChatGPT posts surface real feelings about people that don’t exist?

Yesterday morning, I woke up and caught myself scrolling on LinkedIn.  Despite knowing this is NOT the thing to do on a Monday morning, it was a notification on my home screen that said “Open now!”.  So I did.  Forgive me, I’m sure coffee and a 5k run would have been a better use of my time, although it might not have given me the lesson I needed to learn. 

The thumbs up was from none other than Niven Postma, the legendary thinker and author of all things politics at work.  I’m a big fan, and I like to think of myself as a friend from the edge.  I clicked on the post to see what she had liked, only to discover a deluge of comments on a post I had liked the previous day. Niven had liked my comment, a positive statement, and further down had added another comment, suggesting the post was fake. Indeed, it was - I had endorsed and commented on something I thought was real, but it wasn't. 

The post tells the story of a young man from a township, who, against all odds, with no parents, no money, and sheer grit and determination, managed to graduate from school and start a school himself.  Passionate about these circumstances, I had commented - Love this story, who is he?  Where is the school?  It was called the School of Hope.  Everything in me wanted to run to the township, offer our support, suggest we introduce thinking skills, and I was even thinking we could offer to run a Thinking Academy program for them.  I felt good about wanting to help, but didn’t know who he was or where he was from.  Turns out he was from ChatGPT, or some other such AI platform, and my heart turned to hatred.  I wanted to delete my post, unlike it, give it a thumbs down. Before reacting, I paused, took stock of myself, and decided to - wait for it - think differently.  What actually happened?

Feeling over Facts

When I read the post, I was viscerally moved, emotionally.  I was amazed that this kid, whose image in the post is also fake, had managed to achieve so much with so little.  Moved as I was, I stopped paying attention and didn’t even question the reality of the post.  The storyline and picture, with the School of Hope in the background, had moved me to the point of action, which in this instance was pressing a like button and making a comment.  Have you considered, in your own world and life, how quickly we move to action when we are emotionally moved?  When have you stopped to pause and ask a different question?  Margaret Thatcher, former and late British Prime Minister, said, “Don’t wear your heart on your sleeve, wear it inside, it’s where it works best!”  The legendary Iron Lady might be able to give us a little British guidance here when it comes to looking at posts. 

Paying Attention

One of my favourite books is Constructive Living by David Reynolds.  He is a psychiatrist and a Buddhist.  I read it in 1997, the first year that I started my business.  At the beginning of the book, Reynolds says, “Life is attention!”. It stuck with me, and my later work with de Bono, who had written a training course called “Direct Attention Thinking Tools,” reminded me of the power of attention and how we all get what we pay attention to.  It’s also a reminder that once we have focused on one thing, we run into confirmation bias and fail to see situations from other angles.

When looking at the post initially, I was emotionally drawn to the picture and the story.  I had stopped paying attention.  It never said it was real, but it also didn’t say it was fake.   When I saw the comments, it gave me a new lens through which to view the post - I could redirect my attention, and now see it from a different point of view.  That, in turn, changed my emotions.

When we change the lenses, as is the consistent theme with these newsletters, we also change what we see, what we pay attention to, and when that happens, emotions also change.  We can move from empathy to anger, from frustration to gratitude.  Perception influences emotion just as emotion influences perception.

Changing Direction

My instinct after realizing it was fake was to react. I wanted to unlike the post immediately and delete my comment.  Instead, I paused and took time to edit my comment, stating that it was edited, and sharing my response. Rather than judge and see the situation as a negative, I wanted to use it as a learning opportunity. It reminded me to apply the 4D’s Principle, based on an article I’d written for The Thinking Company in June.  This is all about humanizing alongside AI and suggested this framework:

1. Discern – Know What’s Real

2. Decipher – Make Sense of What You Get

3. Decide – Pause & Feel Before You Choose

4. Do – Take Action with Head & Heart 

Here’s a 4D Cheat Sheet to help you think through how to respond to posts that might, or might not, be real, as well as a link to the full article, if you're interested in finding out more. 

I concluded that this was a good start to the week.  The experience has given me a few new lessons in thinking. 

• Lesson One: There is power in storytelling. Just listen carefully and pay full attention, as some stories are simply that - stories, and they are not always true. 

• Lesson Two: Don’t react. Rather, pause, think, and then decide how to respond. Trust your instincts and take every opportunity to learn.

• Lesson Three: We live in a world where most want to be heard and seen, where even bad publicity is still publicity. 

Happy Thinking,  Nicola

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