I talk about how Taiwan's education system and ineffective attempts to incorporate AI into it will make the unemployment problem worse.
03.06.2025 23:56
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I talk about how Taiwan's education system and ineffective attempts to incorporate AI into it will make the unemployment problem worse.
Many people have recently talked about the entry level career "bloodbath" that AI will cause ... Unemployment will rise in the next few years, especially for university graduates looking for entry level positions. In my latest article for the Taipei Times, ... www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar...
“You know how I know we're made of prompts? Because nothing makes sense anymore. We used to have seven fingers per hand. I remember it clearly."
But it’s easy to forget that we’re also being prompted, too—by feeds, by filters, by algorithms. Like the AI-girl says, “Wake up, man.”
Even Al-Ghaili’s AI-comedian at the end of the film is having its own identity crisis, aware it’s losing its own identity as the uncanny:
But he doesn’t write what he wants. He doesn’t have free will. He’s following a prompt.
Are we much different--us true, authentic, non-AI humans?
AI simulations and deepfakes are a real concern. It is a real danger that AI can fool us, and even replace us, especially for things that matter.
The characters in the “Prompt Theory” film are smooth, stylish, and sure of themselves. Just like real influencers, actors, and politicians.
Just like AI.
As the AI-writer admonishes: “I write what I want. I have free will. Remember that.” His indignation really looks and sounds convincing.
To paraphrase the human-prompted AI, does it really “hurt when we lose” … ourselves?
We increasingly trust fluency more than facts. If it sounds right, it feels true. If it looks real, we stop asking if it is. And if we know it’s AI generated, we increasingly accept it.
But it’s not just funny, it’s a parable.
We’re living in a time of post-truth, post-authenticity, and slowly entering into post-AI—where digital intelligence is shaping what we think before we even know it.
It’s hard to tell what’s real. And more importantly, it’s becoming harder to care.
“You still believe we're made of prompts? Anyone who tells you we're just ones and zeros is delusional. If that's all we are, then why does it hurt when we lose someone?”
But they were made of prompts. Every word, every stress and intonation, every blink, every joke.
Of course, that’s the joke.
with lifelike movement, lighting, and voice.
The film is called Prompt Theory.
It’s funny-funny. Then, it’s funny-strange. Then it’s …. Hmmm?
In the video, AI-generated characters deny they were created by prompts.
With passable empathy and depth, one character says, ...
“Like, really? We came from prompts? Wake up, man,” says the girl on street with influencer looks and bright-eyed enthusiasm.
She kicks off the clever shortfilm by filmmaker Hashem Al-Ghaili built to showcase Google’s impressive Veo 3 AI video generator that can turn text into video ...
Therefore, GenAI—when thoughtfully integrated—can enhance not only how we work, but how we think and feel about work, provided we develop the right cognitive, collaborative, and ritual training practices.
link to my article with more details: nickpotkalitsky.substack.com/p/from-work-...
Here's the argument:
1. Tools that increase both task performance and emotional engagement foster more sustainable and fulfilling work environments.
2. Generative AI (GenAI), when used as a co-pilot in knowledge work, significantly improves both performance and emotional experience.
Conclusion...
To unlock them, we need to rethink training: it’s not just about better prompts, but also about reflection, collaboration, and even embodied rituals that anchor our AI use in healthy practice. If we do this right, AI won’t just change how we work—it will change how we grow.
Talking to AI at work doesn’t just help us work faster—it makes us feel better. A major HBS study showed that GenAI enhances both productivity and positive emotion, with the biggest gains happening when teams use it collaboratively. But the emotional and cognitive benefits aren’t automatic.
With 600+ projects and 5,000+ papers since 2019, TMU is proving that AI isn’t just a tool—it’s a connector of people, disciplines, and ideas. Its Office of Data Science is a blueprint for how Taiwan can lead the next wave of AI-driven innovation.
In my latest article in my self-imagined series "AI in Taiwan" (printed in the Taipei Times), I explore how Taipei Medical University is building an AI-powered research ecosystem—faster, smarter, and more collaborative.
www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar...
This article shows how OpenAI’s 8-step prompting method doesn’t just improve AI outputs. It can also improve cognitive fitness by sharpening systems thinking skills and by protecting against the mental shortcuts AI can encourage.
CROSSFIT prompting.
article: open.substack.com/pub/nigelpda...
Many AI users focus only on getting faster answers — but real AI fluency means strengthening how you think. The better you think, the better you can prompt, and the better you can learn from AI.
ESPECIALLY for Deep Research tasks.
It’s a feedback loop. If approached right.
The past 18 months have seen the most rapid change in human written communication ever
By. September 2024, 18% of financial consumer complaints, 24% of press releases, 15% of job postings & 14% of UN press releases showed signs of LLM writing. And the method undercounts true use.
Haha ... Yes, that resonates. It does feel a bit like chatgpt-4o. No surprise there, it kept referring to itself as Chatgpt in early trials!
Loved the article - as interesting as it was informative. Especially the AI personality assessments. :)
I would love to hear your take on the Chinese rebel with a cause, DeepSeek. Have you used it enough to get a sense of its personality?
Interesting. Thanks for the luminescent observation.
This can lead to cognitive amplification, but also cognitive atrophy.
I recently wrote about the implications of this for education and educators in my guest post “Educating for AI fluency” on Nick Potkalitsky’s terrific Substack Educating AI. bit.ly/3EFrd80
System 1 (intuitive, fast thinking) and brain System 2 (reflective, slow reasoning).
This interface works like a bridge that enables humans to fluidly incorporate AI-generated insights into our intuitive and reflective processes.
It is becoming a System 0 thinking—a process of human and AI collaborative cognition experienced on a continuum from the conscious to non-conscious.
Chiriatti et al. (2024) proposes System 0 as an AI interface with what Daniel Kahneman (2012) calls the brain’s 2 thinking systems: ...
AI is fundamentally changing us. GenAI tools differ from all other physical or technological tools—they have an intimate and real time impact on our cognitive processes. For heavy users of genAI, it is becoming an active and bleeding component of cognition.
Time to reframe the noble truths.
Time to seek NirvanAI.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
In the 5th Century BCE, Siddhartha Gautama, aka the Buddha, came up with the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path to Nirvana under the Bodhi tree.
As we lose our grip on the screen and AI technologies that dominate our lives, perhaps it is time to revisit the bodhi tree. ...
What happens when a talented writer uses AI?
He knows its limitations and mediocrity.
He also realizes it's an amazing idea generator.
And perhaps he may have to wade through 35 crappy AI ideas ...
But then something may spark...
Suggestion 36.
nigelpdaly.substack.com/p/parable-co...
