How (not) to brainstorm with AI

Plus many other topics in my interview for the Promptly Speaking podcast

Hi friends,

I interviewed for the Promptly Speaking Podcast! Watch the video below or read the summary that follows!

My favorite part is why I think brainstorming with chatbots is risky and how to avoid pitfalls, using my Chef Approach to AI.

My other favorite part is that Sara and I started brainstorming (pun not intended!) about how to reinvent her work as a recruiter with AI.

After the recording ended, we continued to brainstorm and decided to build the tool we talked about! We are building it in public and will be presenting what Sara has built on Nov. 19. You are welcome to join!

Watch/listen to the podcast

Highlights

Here are some highlights from the conversation

• 00:20 – Meet Dr. Ravit Dotan: From philosophy to AI ethics I share my journey from academic philosophy studying how values interact with science to helping individuals and organizations adopt AI responsibly, emphasizing the need for practical guidance now that anyone can create custom chatbots.

• 03:50 – The gray zones of AI ethics

  Rather than trying to define what ethics is (a question philosophers have debated for millennia), I propose starting with identifying what you’d rather have less of—like bias—and then taking proactive steps to incorporate your values into the AI tools you build.

• 07:49 – What AI does to your brain

  Recent studies show that using AI to create final outputs leads to cognitive offloading, reducing brain activity and critical thinking—but I argue this isn’t inevitable if we use AI differently to enhance rather than replace our thinking.

• 16:58 – How to brainstorm with AI (not let it think for you)

  I explain why the way most people use AI for brainstorming is one of the worst ways to use AI (you’re vulnerable and can’t evaluate quality well), and explain how to do it better: design processes where AI asks you questions to deepen your thinking instead of giving you ready-made lists.

• 25:16 – Ethical adoption in business

  Companies are struggling with AI adoption because they focus on the technology itself rather than starting with their work pain points, and ethical concerns get pushed aside as “nice to have” when they should be integrated from the beginning. I explain that the solution is to make ethics an organic part of building products.

• 30:37 – Live brainstorming: Reinventing work with Sara and Dan

  Real-time examples of redesigning workflows: Sara’s candidate LinkedIn optimization chatbot, Dan’s iterative sales transcript analysis, and Sara’s engaged podcast prep process

• 36:12 – The “Chef Approach” explained

  I introduce my framework contrasting two ways to use AI: the “takeout approach” (ordering ready-made outputs like asking for an email draft) versus the “chef approach” (designing processes where you remain integral every step, using AI as a tool within your own expertise).

• 39:35 – Custom chatbots, agents, and the next frontier

  I clarify the difference between custom chatbots (which take you through processes) and agents (which can also interact with external apps), explaining how anyone can now create and monetize these tools using simple text-based system prompts without technical expertise.

• 45:42 – The skills your brain needs for the future of work The critical skills for the next generation are knowing their options with AI (not falling into the trap of only one way to use it) and learning to systematize their work processes so they can build custom tools that produce stronger outputs without cognitive decline.

• 51:11 – Final reflections I share where listeners can find my resources, from on-demand courses to organizational consulting, all focused on hands-on, practical application of the chef approach to AI.

See what Sara built

As I said at the beginning of this blog post, Sara and I decided to build one of the tools we talked about — Helping job seekers optimize their LinkedIn profiles for job searchers. For me, it’s a way to show how AI can be used effectively and ethically to reinvent work.

Come see what we created and talk about reinvneting work!

Dessert

An AI-generated take on this post!

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