Tech Bro Rewards, Critical Thinking & Fiverr
5 in 5 - Brave & Heart HeartBeat #228 ❤️
This week we’ll be talking Elon Musk’s “Pretty Woman” moment as Trump rewards the tech bros for their recent service, discussing why AI might be killing our critical thinking, and how Fiverr will be incorporating AI into their services.
Plus, should we really be tracking everything that we do, and how can we level up our language in the workplace?
Let's get into it.
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#1 - Big Tech Cashes In
Remember when we asked what was in it for Elon Musk? Well, this…
US Tech companies have invested millions in getting into Trump’s good books, and it seems to have paid off this week as the new administration have issued a load of directives relaxing regulations and dropping lawsuits that were aimed at holding the industry to account.
Crypto, AI and social media companies are all expecting to benefit from this, and noone more so than Elon Musk.
Federal agencies have dropped legal fifhts against his rocket company, and they’re letting him get involved in loosening tech-sector regulation.
As the CEO of numerous tech companies that have previously been sued by federal agencies, his 300 million dollar investment into Trump’s re-election is allowing him to live his own Pretty Woman moment. Big mistake, huge!
He’s now in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked with cutting federal spending and regulations, and boy will he get his revenge.
#2 - Is AI Killing Critical Thinking?
New research from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University seems to say so…
The research paper concluded that as people increasingly rely on gen AI in their work, they use less critical thinking. And if you don’t use it, you lose it.
The team surveyed 319 “knowledge workers” – defined as those whose jobs need a high level of thinking and processing information (engineers, accountants, teachers) – on how they use generative AI and how much critical thinking they use when they lean on it.
They found that those who trusted AI used less critical thinking when checking the results than those who didn’t, and that when using AI those workers shifted from task execution to task oversight – meaning they basically became proofreaders rather than writers.
This fascinating quote from the paper itself explains the irony behind that:
"A key irony of automation is that by mechanising routine tasks and leaving exception-handling to the human user, you deprive the user of the routine opportunities to practice their judgement and strengthen their cognitive musculature, leaving them atrophied and unprepared when the exceptions do arise."
Basically, if you keep using AI to do it and then checking it yourself, at a certain point you won’t be clever enough to check it anymore.
Apparently it also stifles creativity, as when AI tools were used people produced a “less diverse set of outcomes for the same task” than when they weren’t.
Fiverr is a weird enough site as it, and has always seemed to us a way to push freelancers to undercut themselves and each other to give people the quickest and cheapest work possible. I mean, it’s literally called Fiverr.
Now they’re getting AI involved, but is this a good thing for the freelancers?
They can now build AI versions of themselves that people can use. Clients then pay for access to the models to generate content with the speed of AI but the “expertise of a pro”.
Freelancers set the price for these custom AI models, which are available across services like voiceovers, songwriting, graphic design, illustration, copywriting, and digital marketing.
Fiverr are advertising this as a way for freelancers to scale their business, and a way to give the control back to creators in the AI content revolution.
They do warn that results may vary, though, due to the “nature of AI”…
#4 - Track Your Self
It’s easier than ever to track every facet of your life – sleep, calorie intake, wellbeing, you name it. But is it actually useful, or are we all just becoming narcissists / anxious wrecks, or brainwashed by big tech’s obsession with data.
Almost 40% of people surveyed in the UK said they use a wearable device. That can range from an apple watch to a Zoe glucose monitoring patch, but why? In The Guardian ,one writer suggests that the underlying promise behind tracking devices is “understand your life better with data, and you can improve it.”
And some can. Glucose trackers can help people with diabetes mamnage their blood sugar. One person in Denmark even religiously tracked their sneezing to try and find out what triggered it, and managed to figure out how to live a sneeze-free life.
Congratulations to him, but data doesn’t always lead to a solution. Corellation and causation are not always in line. For example, data shows that more people drown in pools in the years when Nicolas Cage movies come out. Somehow, we don’t think that’s his fault.
Tracking can actually also do more harm than good, certainly for those with challenges such as OCD. And, actually, anyone else, as studies have shown that calorie trackers can feel “oppressive” to users.
Other dangers include data breaches. In 2018 MyFitnessPal was hacked, exposing 150 million user’s data, in 2021 Apple Health were victims of a data breach and in 2023 23andMe exposed the data of 6.9 million users.
What could they do with that data? Don’t know, but they can probably find something nefarious to use it for…
#5 - Change Your Tone At Work
How do you level up your work chat and sound more like a leader? According to LinkedIn, there are some phrases you should change, and for once, we don’t disagree with them on most of these.
Step one, never say sorry (unless you’ve actually done something wrong). Instead of “sorry to bother you” say “do you have a moment to discuss this project” and instead of “Sorry for the delay” you should thank them for their patience.
Instead of saying you “think” a certain course of action is better, switch it up for “I recommend” and when giving your opinion take yourself to the next level by saying “drawing from my previous experience”.
Another good one was when your manager gives you an extra task but you’re already stacked, instead of “I’ll try to get this done” ask them “what can I deprioritise to get this done for you?”.
Brave & Heart over and out.
Bonus
Elon Musk vs. Canada
Elon Musk, the new bestie elect of the United States, is not American, as we all know.
However, he does have Canadian citizenship through his mother.
Perhaps not for much longer though, as 200,000 Canadians have signed a petition to revoke it.
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