The Secret Weapon for Thriving in the AI Age

Unlocking the essential ingredient

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Hello friend,

How are you doing? I hope you find time to take some time off while juggling work demands.

Here’s the thing.

You get my newsletter every Sunday where I typically open up with a sincere interest in your well-being.

Yeah, I honestly care.

For me, it’s a natural extension of my habit of occasionally speaking with subscribers, enjoying their stories, and always learning something new.

Through this simple act of kindness and value-added content, hopefully, this Shlomi Ron guy has left a positive impression on you.

And here comes an unexpected plot twist.

But what if this Shlomi Ron character is a computer-generated virtual avatar that doesn’t exist, like Lil Miquela - a virtual influencer on Instagram?

Hey, if you never met me in person, these days you never know, right?

To be clear this is 100% not true! I am well and real, thank you :)

My purpose for this simulation was to demonstrate the importance of one of the most precious assets any brand can strive for these days - truth.

Why?

The reality is that piling up on the existing fake news explosion, and growing polarization - now both consumers and marketers need to figure out how to tame this “wild Bronco” called AI that has a mixed relationship with the truth.

And when the truth is flexible distrust reigns.

What is truth?

Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.

-Source: Wikipedia

As you know, truth is a very elastic thing. It truly depends on who is telling the story and what subjective perspectives and interests they bring to the table.

A classic example is Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 Rashomon. It’s a murder story where four characters share their subjective, alternative, and contradictory versions of the same incident.

Pretty much what back in 2017, U.S. Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway coined “Alternative facts."

Having said that, any modern society cannot function without agreeing on what constitutes truth.

In practice, these are our game rules in the form of common facts, norms and most importantly abiding by the rule of law to maintain an orderly and thriving society.

Truth in business begets trust.

Edelman defines the importance of trust as

“Trust is the foundation that allows an organization to take responsible risk, and, if it makes mistakes, to rebound from them.”

Here is a nice capture of the state of trust in US organizations:

Although trust level in Business increased by 6 points YoY, overall the emerging picture is that people “half or less believe” the information they consume from US institutions. Elsewhere is even worse. (source: Edelman 2023: Trust Barometer US Report)

Early roots

Since 20 years ago when social media broke out people have found it quite easy to spread misinformation (unintentional) and disinformation (intentional).

Something they would never say in person, hiding behind their screens empowers them to spread falsehoods we’ve seen in political campaigns and even high school bullying.

It’s the same effect you see on the road when people behind the wheel tend to extenuate their behaviors.

Even back in 2020, you would find that Americans believed 61% of news on social media contains misinformation (Knight Foundation).

Enter AI

A viral AI-generated fake photos of Pope Francis wearing a puffer jacket (source: CBS News)

With AI explosion seven months ago and the mad dash to adopt AI tools and practices, we discovered a simple truth.