The Secret Life of AI: Let’s Spill the Beans!

You can tell the school year has started. How? The folks at OpenAI released a chart showing a fascinating trend: their peak season is the academic year. When summer arrives, usage plummets. It doesn't take a genius to connect the dots. Students are back at their desks, professionals are done with vacation, and the quiet demand for AI to help with papers, reports, and emails is surging once again.

This tells us a great deal about how these powerful new tools are being adopted: secretly. People are using AI to gain an edge, but they certainly aren't shouting about it from the rooftops. They're taking the credit, and a culture of silence is growing around the technology. For me, the issue isn't the tool itself. The problem is the quiet. In the constant crush to be more productive, these tools absolutely help us get there. But at what cost?

When everyone is using AI but no one will admit to it, we're left in a strange, undefined space. We can't develop honest standards about what constitutes fair use and what crosses a line. It's like a family secret everyone is aware of but refuses to discuss. This "don't ask, don't tell" approach helps no one. It creates an unequal landscape where some leverage technology for a hidden advantage, while others are either left behind or hold back out of a sense of integrity.

In our schools, this secrecy brings up serious questions about the very nature of learning. Is a student using AI as a collaborator to brainstorm ideas, or are they using it as a ghostwriter to complete an assignment from scratch? Without an open dialogue, educators are left guessing, and students navigate their academic careers without clear boundaries. The purpose of education is not just to produce a final paper, but to build the critical thinking skills needed to create it. When we outsource the process without acknowledgment, we risk eroding that fundamental goal.

The same dilemma is playing out in the workplace. An employee using AI to draft reports and respond to emails at twice the speed of their colleagues will naturally appear more productive. But is that a true measure of their ability, or just their skill with a tool they won't admit to using? This lack of transparency prevents companies from establishing fair policies. It stops us from figuring out how to use this technology responsibly and as a team. Instead, we are encouraging an environment of individual shortcuts, where the unspoken rule is to use it but never, ever mention it.

The logical next step would be to move beyond this silent agreement and establish some rules. It seems simple enough. If we’re all using these tools, we might as well be honest and figure out the guidelines together. This would have to start with open conversations in our classrooms and offices, with schools and businesses taking the lead.

But don't kid yourself. I don't think the rules of the road are coming. At least, not anytime soon.

Expecting institutions to create and enforce clear, fair-use policies for a technology that evolves daily is a tall order. We’re asking slow-moving organizations to regulate something that moves at lightning speed. It’s more likely that we’ll continue in this gray area, where personal ethics become the only real guide. The incentive to use AI for a competitive advantage—to be more productive, to get a better grade, to secure a promotion- is just too strong. We want to believe in a future where we integrate these tools thoughtfully, but the reality is that we're in a digital wild west, and there’s no sheriff in sight.

The conversation needs to shift from waiting for top-down rules to fostering bottom-up integrity. It falls on the individual to decide where their line is. We must ask ourselves: Are we using this tool to enhance our thinking or to replace it? The longer we pretend a clear rulebook is on the horizon, the wider the gap grows between how we work and how we say we work. It’s time to stop waiting for permission or policy and start having an honest conversation, if only with ourselves.

Links referenced in this episode:

• jamesabrown.net

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• OpenAI

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Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy