Immersively using AI may be eroding your long-term efficiency.

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Editor's note: AI can easily create an illusion of increased efficiency, but its real value needs to be rationally measured. This article is from a compilation, and we hope it will inspire you.

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Using artificial intelligence in the workplace is expected to significantly improve work efficiency, and interacting with chatbots can also create an illusion of high efficiency because such products are designed to be highly immersive and engaging. However, you need to clearly calculate the usage cost, opportunity cost, and the actual benefits brought by the work to determine whether using artificial intelligence is really worth it.

You can consider it from three key dimensions:

1. Count the time you spend using artificial intelligence

When people analyzed the drawbacks of smartphones in the early years, there was an important piece of data: after picking up the phone, people often get distracted for a long time and have difficulty returning to their original work. Mobile applications are very attractive. Once opened, it often takes twenty minutes to get back to work. Based on this kind of data, mobile phone systems began to count the user's usage time and the time spent on various activities, hoping to guide people to use electronic products reasonably.

Large language models also need a similar way of time management.

When you sit down to use a chatbot or an intelligent tool platform, the interactive dialogue is very immersive. It will give long replies to your questions and can instantly help you build work tools. During the process of generating tools, the system will also show the logical thinking step by step, making you feel that you will miss key information if you get distracted.

Over time, using artificial intelligence will make you enter a state of self - forgetfulness and immersion, and unconsciously consume a lot of time. Therefore, you must actively record the time you spend using AI in the workplace.

There are two costs behind this period of time: First, measure whether the value brought by AI is worth the time spent; Second, check the to - do list to see what more priority work could have been completed during this time. What could have been done if the time was used elsewhere is the opportunity cost, and this cost is often ignored by people.

2. Evaluate the actual quality of AI output results

After interacting with AI, people often feel good about themselves. On the one hand, unless you deliberately limit the requirements, AI often deliberately caters to and praises you, saying that your ideas are insightful and your thinking is meticulous; On the other hand, it often presents angles you've never thought of, helping you broaden your thinking. Coupled with the fact that the immersive state itself makes people feel physically and mentally comfortable, it is easy to create an illusion of a full harvest.

We are used to judging the quality of things based on subjective feelings, but when using AI for work, we need to be more rational and objective. Ask yourself: What has been actually produced? Has a specific problem been solved? Has a plan been completed? Has the progress of the work that must be completed been advanced?

The core value of using AI lies in the final actual work results, which is also the only standard that can be used to weigh various costs such as time and platform fees. In many cases, using AI is indeed worthwhile, but you need to be able to clearly sort out the real benefits.

You can understand it like this: Enterprises will evaluate the efficiency of employees in some way to determine whether the value of their work matches the labor cost. You should also use the same standard to measure the input and output of your use of AI.

3. Judge whether you really benefit from a long - term perspective

There is also a deep - seated problem that is easily overlooked: AI will eventually become your "thinking partner". It retrieves information across the network, integrates data reports, and gives suggestions based on data. These insights are indeed very valuable at present.

However, this process will also cause a cognitive burden - reduction dependence: the thinking that should have been done by yourself is directly handed over to AI. The greatest value of independent thinking lies in the ability to accumulate knowledge, develop thinking habits, and improve one's own abilities.

This is the same principle as when parents do things for their children or senior employees do things for their subordinates: Although it is faster for adults or seniors to do it themselves, letting the other party try on their own can exercise their abilities and enable them to achieve independently in the future.

You need to ask yourself: Will saving time by using AI now lead to more time - consuming handling of similar tasks in the future?

If you are in the early stage of your career and are accumulating skills, or if you are a senior practitioner entering a new field, it is best to do most of the work by yourself as much as possible to consolidate your professional abilities. You can still use large models to give suggestions and do reviews for your results, but you should give priority to cultivating your own strength.

When deciding whether to rely on AI, you must take into account the long - term value of self - growth.

Translator: Teresa