People say they can spot AI writing a mile off. The em dashes. The word “delve.” The LinkedIn posts that begin with “I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership” and end without a single thought. I understand the reaction. I’ve read enough of them to develop a thousand-yard stare every time someone says they’re “unlocking” something.
But I also don’t believe that all AI uses need to be thrown into the waste bin. Many times it makes work quicker and easier.
Recently my dishwasher kept on turning off a couple of minutes after starting with a weird error code flashing on the screen. I diligently looked up the model number and error code to find a YouTube video featuring a very nice middle aged man with a thick Yorkshire accent in his garage. The lighting was terrible, the audio was choppy, and while he was explaining a “tricky part” all the camera could see was his elbow. But I didn’t care about those flaws, I wanted information and he delivered it.
In these scenarios AI can really help. If it can help you fix your broken dishwasher, and as long as it actually reads the instructions, it’s good to go. I don’t need to form any sort of connection with the man in the garage to find the information useful. Sure I left him a like on the video because it helped me, but I’m not subscribing to his channel anytime soon.
Compare that to a great story-driven youtuber you follow. Or a movie director. You don’t watch one of those to learn the plot as efficiently as possible. Someone chose the framing, music, colour palette, dialogue, and so much more. That’s not something you want AI to take over, you want the human touch, the artistry, the emotion, the feeling that makes you connect.
There’s information, and then there’s the art. One is for your mind, the other for your heart.
Our studios team at KnowBe4 understands that distinction and we create content for both sides. At the top end that means series like "The Inside Man," which plays more like a Netflix drama than a training module. Nobody watches it hoping to learn the mechanics of a credential harvesting attack. They watch because they care what happens to the people on screen, and the consequences of a bad decision land on them.
We also produce the practical knowledge modules which can teach people how to spot the red flags in a phishing email or how to securely transfer data, or classify it.
Giving someone information and changing their behaviour are different jobs. The garage video does the first, while cinema and drama do the second.
AI is great at helping people be more efficient. I’m happy for it to shorten meeting notes, or do a review of my blog post before my long-suffering copy editor has to set aside half their day to go through it.
I like to write, and often picture myself not writing a blog post or article, but rather ask myself how I would explain this to my best friend. The words may not be perfect, the grammar may take liberties, but those are the words I chose, and I know my friend will understand and appreciate it. That’s why we’re friends, because of our quirks, not because we speak perfectly smooth sentences with no grammatical errors.
I’m not saying that training content must be made without digital tools. People have always used tools. But those tools should support the human making the decisions, not make the decisions themselves. In this world, we can make room for AI without assuming every use of it is the same.
Use it to make information easier to find and understand. Just don’t ask it to provide the human bit.
The dishwasher doesn’t need a soul. The film does. And if you can’t tell which one you’re making, that’s not a technology problem.
Javvad Malik is Lead CISO Advisor at KnowBe4. He has asked AI to make his writing more concise. It keeps removing the good bits.
