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Summary
There is a lot of hype around AI. But in many ways, AI’s potential for augmenting your cognitive abilities has been undersold. Learn how tools such as ChatGPT can become valuable collaborators that expand and refine your thinking. This seminar by Duly Noted author Jorge Arango shows you how to augment your notes using popular AI tools. Watch Part 1 Watch Part 2
Key Insights
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Generative AI like GPT-4 functions best as advanced symbol manipulation tools rather than true sentient intelligences.
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Digital notes serve as cognitive augmentations, especially powerful when users retain direct control over their data files.
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Obsidian's use of plain text files enables flexible AI integrations beyond proprietary cloud-based note systems.
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Anthropomorphizing AI is natural but should be tempered by understanding AI's actual functional nature.
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Using AI as an amanuensis—a super secretary—can augment tasks like summarizing, translating, synthesizing, organizing, and providing feedback on ideas.
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Transparency about which parts of your notes are AI-generated is critical to maintain clarity and trust in your knowledge base.
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Cloud-based AI chat interactions can expose your data to training usage; API and enterprise plans often offer better data privacy.
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Context-rich prompts and uploading source material improve AI output relevance and precision.
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AI's training on word frequency probabilities means its feedback tends to be moderate and conventional unless carefully prompted.
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Plugins like Obsidian's Smart Connections can automatically suggest relationships between notes without requiring explicit links, empowering better knowledge discovery.
Notable Quotes
"Thinking is something that happens as the brain interacts with the world, and notes are one of the best tools to think with."
"I think of generative models not as intelligences but as the most powerful symbol manipulation tools ever created."
"These models are to language what spreadsheets and calculators are to numbers."
"I don’t want an AI to think for me; I want to grow as a person, and these tools can help me do that."
"You should be transparent with yourself about which parts of your notes were generated by AI."
"The chat interface is just one UI on top of these models; APIs allow for much more powerful and flexible interactions."
"When you interact with AI via chat, your data can be used for training, but API and enterprise versions generally protect your data."
"Uploading documents like PDFs allows AI to summarize and explain complex or jargon-heavy texts more clearly."
"AI tends to give fairly middle-of-the-road feedback because it’s trained on word co-occurrence probabilities, not conceptual understanding."
"I wouldn’t want AI to automatically modify my notes without some control over the changes."
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