AI (Artificial Intelligence) can do some pretty impressive things. It can find information quickly and it can create marvelous reports, presentation material, and videos. It can do these things quickly—much faster than humans can. And, what AI produces can look very impressive.

But, paying attention to objectives can be very important when using AI. As I discussed in my most recent blog post, AI tools produce a summary of the information available about a topic. As long as the AI doesn’t hallucinate (coming up with false information, which AI sometimes does), what AI produces tends to essentially be a very good summary. So, even if it is extremely good, it is still just a summary. And, a summary generally can’t provide the depth of understanding that comes from consulting a more thorough range of sources.

That’s a good reason why it is important to pay attention to objectives when using AI. For instance, do you merely need a summary, possibly accompanied by some graphics and videos? Or do you need a deeper understanding of the material for purposes like providing in-depth answers to client questions or for applying the information to complex real world problems? If it’s the latter, the brief, but impressive summary that Ai quickly develops is unlikely to provide the depth of understanding needed for answering those kinds of questions or for dealing with those real world problems.

Along these lines, there is some evidence that AI can lead to less learning. As I discussed in my most recent blog post, students who use AI tools can produce impressive reports, but perform more poorly when tested on the material. This is further indication that individuals who delegate so much of the information gathering to AI end up learning less than they would if they did the research work themselves.

Thus, objectives play an important role with AI. In some situations, the objective is to quickly produce an impressive looking presentation. In those cases, there may be no need for a more thorough, in-depth understanding of the material, so AI can be a valuable resource for getting the job done. However. If a deeper understanding of the material is needed, it may not occur when using AI. Consequently, additional steps may be needed to increase the depth of understanding of the topic by going far beyond the minimal information available in an AI based summary.

That’s why it is so important to pay attention to your objectives. So, when using AI, especially for larger projects, do ask yourself: what are my objectives? Like most endeavors, what tools to use depends on your objectives. And, these objectives can help with deciding when and how much to rely on AI.