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AI as Thought Partner: How to Use LLMs to Transform Your Notes (3rd of 3 seminars)
Summary
Key Insights
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Generative AI models like GPT-4 are best viewed as powerful symbol manipulation tools, not sentient intelligences.
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Digital notes serve as cognitive augmentation devices that expand our thinking abilities.
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Having direct control over note data enables better integration with AI tools compared to cloud-locked systems.
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AI can effectively assist with summarizing, translating (including to domain-specific jargon), synthesizing, and connecting ideas.
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Using AI as an amanuensis—a kind of super secretary—is a practical middle ground for augmenting cognition.
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Uploading documents like PDFs into AI chat interfaces allows jargon simplification, e.g., explaining academic papers to a 10-year-old.
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Transparency about which content is AI-generated is essential to avoid confusion or mistaken ownership of ideas.
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API access to AI models offers more privacy and customization than chat interfaces, which may use data for training.
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AI tends to produce middle-of-the-road feedback, requiring user expertise to detect inaccuracies or hallucinations.
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Plugins like Smart Connections in Obsidian use local models to find non-linked related notes safely without sending data externally.
Notable Quotes
"Thinking is something that happens as the brain interacts with the world, not just inside our heads."
"These tools are the most powerful symbol manipulation tools ever created, like spreadsheets for language."
"Notes are preeminent things for thinking with because they expand our cognitive abilities."
"I think of AI models as amanuenses, like super secretaries aiding scholars in the early modern period."
"Uploading a paper and asking the AI to explain it as if I was a bright 10-year-old helps break through jargon."
"You want to be very clear about what was generated by AI and what is your own stuff in your notes."
"If you use these chat interfaces, your data might be used for training, but API access can preserve privacy."
"AI gives feedback that’s generally conventional and middle-of-the-road, so you need to verify its output."
"I wouldn’t want AI to think for me; these tools are to help me grow, not replace my thinking."
"The ultimate purpose with AI-augmented note-taking is to think more effectively, not to outsource thought."
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