AI is making us fearful for our jobs, and rightly so. It’s a snap to ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to, say, write a news story about technology, source it, and publish it, all in a matter of seconds. What’s to keep ChatGPT from replacing me?

Everyone’s trying to figure out the problem of keeping AI from wreaking havoc on the workforce, with the latest effort coming from an non-profit backed by the biggest names in tech, including Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI.

Led by Gina Raimondo, the former U.S. commerce secretary and former Rhode Island governor, Raise US is taking a multipronged approach to tackling the AI jobs issue, from worker retraining and wage insurance to short-term compensation for displaced employees and employer incentives for redeploying those who are displaced.

It’s a laudable effort, although it’s too early to tell whether Raise US will deliver tangible benefits or will simply act as a PR shield for companies creating the very AI models threatening so many jobs. Yes, Raise US has raised $500 million so far, but what’s $500 million to an Anthropic or a Microsoft?

Call me an optimist, but I think there’s another, parallel way to help protect our jobs in the coming AI era: rethinking the way we use AI.

It’s all too easy to ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to just do the thing — you know, just make the chart, build the website, write the article. Indeed, ask ChatGPT to do a given task, and it will get you 80 percent of the way there astonishingly fast. Of course, it’s that last 20 percent that can be agonizing to get right, and it’s not finishing the last 20 that leads to AI slop. 

In my latest AI prompt tip (you can read more about it below), I wrote about how you can get ChatGPT to help you write, rather than just do the writing for you. It means treating the AI as a collaborator rather than just the doer or the outsourcer.

I believe there are plenty of ways for AI to help us rather than replace us, and the more we learn about AI, the better we’ll be able to rethink how we use it.

Let’s hope that AI rethink trickles up to the execs, too.

More in AI this week

Alexa has an Amazon-shopping superpower: It can buy an item the moment it hits a target price. Use it with caution. (PCWorld)

In yet another online “how important are you” test, this site checks whether various AI models know who you are without having to search the web first. Here’s how I rank (just below Ben Patterson the Fluxus artist). (TechCrunch)

Can Claude unlock hidden powers by pretending to be Fable 5? I tried it. (PCWorld)

The AI voice of Michael Caine is narrating The Odyssey for a new audiobook. Sing to me of the man, Muse… (NYT)

OpenAI says it sped up the development of “Jalapeño,” its first computer chip, by using its own AI models to help with the design. (VentureBeat)

Prompt of the week: The “critique, don’t rewrite” prompt

Now, back to the prompt I’ve previously alluded to – the one where ChatGPT helps you to write rather than just doing the writing. 

This prompt specifically tells the AI not to rewrite your draft. Instead, it gets ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to pinpoint weak, vague, or unconvincing passages in your writing, prodding you to tighten up flabby sentences or reorganize your meandering paragraphs.

The prompt can lead to surprisingly harsh criticisms (I certainly wasn’t immune), but I was impressed by the incisive feedback. Give it a try.

That’s all for now!

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