Obsidian shines brightest when used as a tool for connected thought.
But those connections provide the most value when they're connected by you (a human) as part of the sensemaking process.
That’s why I personally don’t like using AI inside my Obsidian vault. That doesn't mean I don't use it in my PKM system, though. AI does still play a pretty big role in my creative process.
In this post, I’ll show how I use AI in my own PKM system to help me be more creative.
Creativity is a System
Before you can figure out where AI is most useful, you have to understand how the parts of your PKM system work together.
All systems have three parts:
- Input – what goes in
- Process – the actual steps and functions the system will perform
- Output – what comes out
When it comes to creative systems, this is best visualized with a framework I call The Creativity Flywheel for developing your ideas to help make creating easy and effortless.
There are five steps to the Creativity flywheel:
- Capture
- Curate
- Cultivate
- Connect
- Create
The first step is to capture what resonates. Don’t capture the things that might be important; capture the things that you believe will be useful (that resonate)
The second step is to curate what’s useful. You only want to bring over the really good stuff from your capture tool, which is why I always have time between capture and curate, so I can see my ideas for what they really are.
The third step is to cultivate your ideas, and this is where I think AI can be really helpful. When you’re cultivating an idea, you’re exploring it. And using AI as a creative collaborator can help you explore an idea more fully.
The fourth step is to connect your ideas and give them context. This is where you connect an idea with the other things that you have collected or the things that you’ve made sense of (you do NOT want AI doing this part for you).
Finally, the fifth step is to create something new from the component pieces. This is where you create something new from all the mental LEGO bricks that you’ve accumulated. Again, I don’t like using AI to create something original (though I do like to use it to repurpose that content into another format).
Where NOT to Use AI
Honestly, I don’t think AI should be used for most of the creative process. But there’s one thing in particular I want to call out:
AI should not be used in your Obsidian vault!
As I mentioned above, the fourth step of the Creativity Flywheel is to connect your ideas. IMHO, this is vital to the sensemaking process.
And it can’t be delegated to a computer.
There’s a mental model called The Map is Not the Territory which basically says that any map is simply a representation of the territory it represents.
That means that any map you look at is simply showing the things that the map maker has chosen are important.
When it comes to things like street maps, it’s pretty clear what’s important. We need to know the major streets and landmarks so that we can get where we want to go.
But when it comes to your own mental maps, you need to embrace the role of the cartographer. You need to decide what’s important to you.
You can't outsource sensemaking. And if you try (by asking AI to make sense of your notes for you), it significantly decreases the creative value you can glean from those notes and ideas.
But there is one place I use AI extensively: during the Cultivate step to help me develop my ideas.
Using AI to Help Develop Ideas
During the Cultivate step, I’m exploring an idea to see what it really is.
In the past, I usually did this by creating a mind map. I put the idea in the middle of a mind map and just start developing different nodes around it.
When mind mapping like this, I find it forces my brain into a divergent mode where it considers any and all options.
But recently, I’ve started using AI here as well.
One of the specific ways I’ve been using it is with an app called VoicePal, which is an iOS app by Ali Abdaal that helps you develop an idea by talking it out. With VoicePal, I simply talk through my idea, and it presents me with some follow-up prompts to help me explore different aspects of that idea more fully.
(That’s actually what I’m using to develop the idea for this newsletter 🙂)
I find that AI is very helpful in this part of the process. You don’t have to use VoicePal specifically, but I think chatting with AI is a great way to figure out what you actually think about something.
AI is the Ultimate Creative Collaborator
I’ve always had a little bit of friction creating on my own.
It’s kind of strange, but even as an introvert, I tend to be most creative when I’m collaborating in a group. I found collaborating with a small team is one of the things that leaves me energized. And since I no longer work with a team, I miss that aspect of the creative process.
However, I’ve found that AI can actually do a pretty great job as a creative collaborator. Plus, it’s always available to talk to.
When I show up and start talking to VoicePal, I get the same benefit that I got from discussing things with my human colleagues in the past.
It encourages me to explore different aspects of an idea that I hadn’t considered before, to see additional options that aren’t obvious to me, and ultimately helps me land on the best version of the idea before I sit down to actually write about it.
