Recently, I came across a clip featuring Jim Rohn that led me down a rabbit hole to Napoleon Hill. A common theme in their work: your choices shape your outcomes. And right now, we’re all making a critical choice about AI – do we use it to think less, or think more?
If we want to be lazy, AI will amplify that. If we want to learn and explore more deeply, AI can accelerate that too. The tool doesn’t decide – we do.
Which got me thinking: most conversations about AI focus on what the technology can do. But there’s another variable that matters just as much – where YOU are. Your expertise level, combined with AI’s capability for a specific task, should determine how you work together.
Introducing MAP
Think of human-AI collaboration as a spectrum. Where you position yourself on that spectrum determines how you should allocate your effort.
MAP – Me, AI, Path forward
- Me: My expertise level on this specific topic
- AI: AI’s capability for this particular task
- Path: How we work together – who creates, who reviews, how effort splits
The Challenge: The Risk Zone
Here’s the tricky part – when your expertise is low, you often can’t accurately assess AI’s capability either. This creates a risk zone: AI generates confidently, you can’t spot the mistakes, and you end up with plausible-sounding but potentially wrong outputs.
The solution isn’t to avoid AI as a beginner. It’s to use it differently. If you’re in the risk zone, either:
- Bring in expert reviewers to evaluate AI output
- Invest time building foundational knowledge first
- Use AI as a coach on YOUR work rather than having it create for you
How Expertise Changes Everything
This reframes how we think about AI productivity benefits:
Novices benefit most from AI as coach:
- You create, AI reviews and challenges your thinking
- You’re building the cognitive muscle memory
- AI spots gaps you missed, asks clarifying questions
- Lower productivity boost, but you’re learning
Experts benefit most from AI as player:
- AI creates first drafts, you apply strategic judgment
- You can quickly assess quality and catch errors
- AI handles execution, you provide direction
- Higher productivity boost because you can evaluate effectively
There will always be human-AI collaboration no matter your expertise level – but the nature of that collaboration should shift based on where you are.
The Intentional Choice
The key is to pause before each AI interaction and MAP where you are:
Me: What’s my expertise level on this specific topic?
AI: What’s AI’s capability for this particular task?
Path: Given those two positions, how should I split effort between creation and review?
Your position isn’t fixed – you might be an expert using AI as a player in your domain, while being a novice who needs AI as a coach when learning something new. Same person, same day, different positions on the spectrum.
The goal isn’t to always be in one zone or another. It’s to be conscious about where you are, so you can make the intentional choice: use AI to help you think more, not less.
Me, AI, Path forward
