USING AI? DON’T FORGET YOUR HI*!

HOW DEVELOPING OUR PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS BECOMES MORE IMPORTANT AS WE EMBRACE AI

*human intelligence

I asked someone with great knowledge why communications skills are so important in the world of AI.  They told me:

“Communication skills ensure humans clearly guide AI, interpret outputs, collaborate ethically, and translate complex technology into meaningful, trustworthy real-world impact.”

Now this answer is “technically” right but it probably won’t surprise you that it (a) didn’t really “feel” right and (b) was written by ChatGPT. 

It feels like almost every LinkedIn post; blog or opinion piece on communications these days is driving us to utilise AI.  There is little doubt that it can help not hinder. It is to be embraced not excluded.  Yet in the scrabble to embrace this revolutionary tool, is there a danger we neglect our evolutionary advantage? As we increasingly appreciate the value of AI - artificial intelligence – how do we value HI – our human intelligence? What are we doing to ensure our communication abilities are as celebrated and honed as we need them to be?

As humans, we communicate for so many different purposes – to connect; to persuade; to understand; to control; to disagree; to laugh and to love – the list is virtually endless.  But ultimately the reason we communicate is in order to create relationships.  Effective communication allows us to establish, sustain and celebrate relationships. Ineffectual communication can destroy them, sometimes in a blink of an eye.  As a former litigator, I saw that in every dispute – be that in a divorce action, a claim for damages or an international commercial dispute – the reason that people were in a bad relationship was because somewhere along the line there had been bad communication. 

In the last 10 years where I have been consciously teaching communication skills, many folk have told me they ‘just aren’t good at communication’.  It has been quite a joy to prove them wrong.  Everyone is born with intrinsic abilities to communicate.  They are hardwired into our system.  Our gut instinct or intuition operates using intricate levels of processing that AI will never be able to replicate.  Our brain can process information at a rate that we can’t even measure let alone understand.  While like AI we are able to ‘know’ things, what distinguishes us from AI is that we can also feel things.  We can sense the “ick” factor (no AI tool can really capture what was so ‘off’ about Epstein – go on, ask it); we can tell the difference between logic and hope (just ask any Scottish football fan); and we know when someone needs a hug instead of an answer (a true quality in any best pal).

But like any abilities, in order to get them to work effectively, we need to develop our communication skills.  After all, a skill is an ability to do something well because you have practised it.  People who are good at some forms of communication are so because they have had the time and opportunity to understand, practice and develop their natural abilities.  Increasingly, however, I am seeing people who think that AI can replace rather than support our communication.  I have heard tales of people refusing to phone others in case they say the wrong thing and so they just draft an email with AI.  I hear of organisations changing goalposts because AI prefers generic safety rather than an instinctive punt.  I am told of people who have been let go from organisations because the algorithm no longer values them.  Is it any wonder, then, that people fear AI.  Do they see it as a tool that could be used as a weapon?

In order to use AI well – to use it as a tool that helps us build relationships - we must also use our HI.  So my challenge is this - what are you and your colleagues doing to ensure that you are prioritising the time and opportunities to identify, develop and value your human intelligence skills? 

After all, even AI says this:

Human intelligence in communication is special because it includes empathy, emotional nuance, context, ethics, creativity, and shared lived experience—not just information exchange.

I am always interested in what people think.  Please let me know your thoughts – I can guarantee that unlike AI’s answers, they will be gloriously diverse and always insightful.