Meta-AI: Navigating AI with AI

This article is, admittedly, yet another drop added to the ongoing wave of AI-related materials. As a matter of fact, this is precisely its subject: How do we navigate the deluge of content AI already generates (both directly and indirectly)? Since the general public gained access to ChatGPT, just a few months ago, a relentless flood of AI-related content--ranging from social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn to more formal academic publications--has engulfed our educational circles.

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Summary

• ​AI will keep generating a deluge of content, on the short term as a topic, but also on the long term as a technology.
• This overwhelming wave is driven by 4 factors and creates a daunting problem: how to navigate this tempest? 
• A solution is the Meta-AI strategy, which simply involves using AI to manage and make sense of AI-related information.
• Beyond the use of AI tools, it is critical to develop an AI mindset and integrate AI use as a new habit into our professional practice.

The AI Content Deluge

If there is simply "too much too fast" out there already , I am certainly part of the problem, having recently disseminated a fair number of AI-related resources including:

• An e-book on AI-powered UDL strategies
• Various articles on the applications of AI in education for both teachers and school leaders, such as a process for computational thinking and prompt-engineering, a model for adapted assessments, a framework for AI literacy, a warning about AI detection, and a strategy for AI-rich recruitment processes.
• A curated list of AI tools

Such an avalanche of information is not surprising. First, there is a Public Discourse Effect: the more the topic is talked about, the more it is talked about, so that it amplifies itself exponentially. This would be true for any "viral" content, or "trend", but this particular phenomenon is also fueled by its specific content: innovation, risks, and creativity. Indeed, second, the Law of Disruptive Motion makes it so that every disruption generates an equal adaptive response. In other words, the more groundbreaking an innovation, the more fear, excitement, and ideation (good and bad) it stimulates. Third, as Joseph Schumpeter already explained, innovations happen in "clusters". We talk about AI more and more, because there is more and more to talk about, as new functionalities create new dangers and hopes, and translate into new apps and other products, which keep improving constantly. Here again, this is particularly true of machine learning-based AI. Finally, it is likely that the recent mass-production of AI-related materials is also due to AI's low-cost generative capacity, which unleashes content creation.

While the effect of the first factor will diminish over time, the opposite is true of the other three. This begs one of the most important questions raised by the rapid development of AI: how can we ride this wave? How can we navigate a world that is not only information-driven, but AI-driven? Or, to put it even more squarely: how do we survive this deluge and make sure its tide empowers rather than submerges us?

The Meta-AI Strategy

Thankfully, the very conundrum that AI proliferation presents is what AI is inherently equipped to handle. Processing large data sets is a task where AI truly shines. This points us to a pragmatic solution: the Meta-AI strategy. It suggests using AI to navigate the realm of AI. For instance, we can employ AI tools to quickly search, scan, and aggregate relevant articles. In the example below, I use the Chrome Extension Mano to sift through my list of 55 AI tools to pick the ones best suited for a particular project.

Likewise, here, I am using ChatPDF to identify, from my ebook, appropriate UDL strategies and suggested tools for a specific purpose.

These are but a few examples of ways AI can help us stay afloat in the sea of information it generates

A New Imperative: Cultivating an AI Mindset

The Meta-AI strategy goes beyond adding a layer of AI use and tools to our daily tasks. It is about cultivating a new mindset by making AI utilization a professional habit. This has already become an imperative. Not because we need to surrender to AI, but to the contrary to ensure that we maintain both our grasp and our grip on this technological advancement. The only way to not be overwhelmed or rendered obsolete by the AI wave is to adapt and integrate it into our professional practice. The Meta-AI strategy is such a Noah's Ark, allowing us to navigate the expansive ocean of AI products and use it to reach new possibilities--rather than risk sinking and drowning in it.