Hi Reader!

Once I asked ChatGPT to help me write an email.

Then I read it back and thought, "That's so obvious ChatGPT wrote it."

So I rewrote the whole thing myself.

And here I am, spending more time editing the AI draft than I would have spent just writing it from scratch. And it's not just this email, and it's not just me; there is a pattern in how we use AI:

We're treating AI like a shortcut when we should be treating it like a partner.

Most people fall into one of two camps when it comes to AI. Either they're handing over entire tasks and hoping for magic, or they're avoiding it altogether because "it doesn't sound like me."

And, as it usually happens, those extremes do not always work, and there is another way to use AI.

The Real Risk of AI is Cognitive Debt

There's a term floating around in AI circles that we all need to know: cognitive debt.

It's what happens when you rely so heavily on AI that you stop thinking for yourself. You lose the muscle. You forget how to brainstorm without a prompt. You can't draft without a starting point from the machine.

*I talk more about cognitive debt and collaboration with AI in the Two Marketing Moms podcast, that you can watch* *here*.

It's like using a calculator so much that you forget how to do basic math in your head (so thankful to my math teacher for teaching me out of it).

And the scariest part is that you don't notice it happening until it's already happened. So we need to learn how to collaborate with AI without losing our brainpower.

Think First, AI Second

Here's what I've started doing—and what I recommend to every team and leader I coach:

Do your original thinking first

Before you touch ChatGPT or any other tool, spend 10 minutes putting your rough ideas on paper. Messy is fine. Incomplete is fine. But yours is essential.

Then bring in the AI. Let it refine, expand, challenge, or structure what you've already created.

This one shift changes everything. You stay in the driver's seat. The AI becomes the co-pilot—not the autopilot.

Better Prompts = Better Partnership

If you're going to work with AI, you need to learn how to talk to it. And no, "write me a LinkedIn post" doesn't count.

The better your prompt, the better your result. That's not just true for AI—it's true for delegation, too.

Here's what works:

Be specific. Don't ask for "a report." Ask for "a 500-word executive summary of Q4 performance, focusing on revenue growth and customer retention, written for a board meeting."
Assign a persona. Tell the AI to "act as a strategic advisor" or "write like a seasoned journalist." It shifts the tone immediately.
Give it context. The more background you provide, the more relevant the output will be. Think of it like briefing a new team member.

You wouldn't hand a vague request to a colleague and expect brilliance. Don't do it with AI either.

Know What to Keep and What to Delegate

AI is exceptional at certain things. And terrible at others.

Let it handle the grunt work—drafting, summarizing, analyzing data, automating repetitive tasks.

But keep the human work for yourself. Strategy. Nuance. Ethical judgment. The final call on what's right, what's real, and what resonates.

We don't want AI to replace humans. We want it to free us to do the work only people can do.

Trust, But Verify

A newspaper publishes an article that includes a ChatGPT response. And we've seen too many people publish AI-generated content without reading it first. And even worse, people are making decisions based on AI analysis without questioning the logic.

That's dangerous.

AI hallucinates. It makes things up. It sounds confident even when it's wrong. So your job is to be the editor, the skeptic, the human in the loop.

Always validate. Always verify. And when something feels off, trust your gut—not the algorithm.

So what's next?

AI isn't going away. And neither is your expertise.

The future of work isn't about choosing between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. It's about learning how to combine them—without losing what makes you, you.

So next time you open ChatGPT, ask yourself:

Am I using this to think better—or to think less?

Because the answer to that question will define how you lead in the years ahead.

Talk soon,

Daria

P.S. Want to hear more about how teams can partner with AI without losing themselves in the process? I recently sat down with Kelly Callahan-Poe on the Two Marketing Moms podcast to talk through exactly that. You can listen here or watch on YouTube.