We use technology to make and fix things, but what if it can help us be curious and possibly understand and accept people with different points of view?
The AI overview we got when asking Google, “What is an icebreaker activity?” is: “a game, event, or activity that helps people get to know each other and build rapport. Icebreakers can be used in meetings, social gatherings, or to help people form a team. They can range from simple questions to more elaborate games.”
This blog post describes the ‘icebreaker tool’ — a Generative AI used to give a new team of specialists something to react to and help them understand each other.
It has become increasingly daunting to be a polymath. So we choose between training people as specialists (locked in silos), or they become broad at the expense of depth, which abandons the rigor of specialist thinking. Generative AI can potentially help trainers and trainees to characterize and relate to a multidisciplinary team of specialists.
In setting up this scenario, we think about how a library works. We are the question askers and the librarian knows how to find knowledge. Good thing the library (Large Language Model) and librarian (Generative AI) have a handle on the relationships in knowledge, because we can only hold and juggle a few concepts at a go. We can use our own tricks to help us consider what we learn. We think of how things we are told remind us of other things. We decide if these things confirm, extend, or break what we already thought.
And we also can switch on and off different ways of thinking and jostle our minds just by changing the scenery around us. You may remember this from school. You go into a science classroom and your brain switches to science; you go out into the food hall, and it turns to social things. In geography, everything that happened in science might seem irrelevant. Without context and reasons, the knowledge doesn’t seem useful, and the consolidation and connections aren’t made.
Can Generative AI help us see problems from others’ points of view? Whereas we like to wear one specialist hat at a time, or even one specialist hat ever, Generative AI can replicate a think tank of specialists and add an invisible chairperson who brings their different positions together. An AI prompt primes the AI, the specialists each bring a distinct and established lens through which to view the world. We can give the AI a simple and light question to see how the different perspectives work. In the current use, the arc of the conversation is fixed: the personas begin by insisting that theirs is the only discipline worthy of attention and then move towards listening to each other’s perspectives. Users choose several disciplines and the goal is to have personas that pique users’ interest and no one feels they’ve been put on the spot.
When a team meets for the first time, everyone might react from their discipline and background. The idea isn’t to ask the AI to replicate individuals — the relationships between each group of collaborators are unique and the glue in a conversation. The aim of the exercise is to reflect on the naturally occurring specialist thinking and language as it colors perspective on a simple question. Just like asking a person, if you narrow it too much, it is too focused on saying what it thinks you want to hear and patching together a few ideas that may not have the weight of a consensus. In your Generative AI prompt, make the most of the thick content around recognizable labels to bridge areas, giving something that will tickle your imagination around a discipline you normally don’t consider.
The icebreaker tool’s use of Generative AI strives to reveal some connections between us while still maintaining the rigor of the disciplines that put a spring into our step. Consider the following prompt:
“Show me a conversation between a scientist, an artist, a philosopher, a geographer, and a theologian where they are debating how to explain a sunset. I want them to disagree passionately when they start and then learn from each other and find a happy, finished solution. For names, give them first names only that ring true to their specialism and the theme of sunset.”
Below is what we got when we put this to Gemini:
EXAMPLE: (Gemini)
Galileo (physicist), his brow furrowed, slammed his fist on the table. “Sunset? It’s a matter of celestial mechanics, plain and simple! The Earth rotates, dips below the sun, and voila! Darkness!”
Iris, the artist, scoffed, her fiery red hair practically bristling. “Light and shadow, Galileo! It’s a canvas vast and ever-changing! The sun dips, bleeds its colors across the sky, a masterpiece born anew each night!”
“Colors a mere trick of the atmosphere,” scoffed Thales, the philosopher, stroking his beard. “Our perception interprets the shift in light as a spectrum, a subjective experience.”
Amara, the geographer, traced a line on a map. “Landmasses play a role too, Thales. The horizon, the curvature of the Earth, all conspire to create the visual drama of the disappearing sun.”
Seraphina, the theologian, her voice calm amidst the rising storm, interjected. “Perhaps, friends, the sunset is a confluence of all these things. A celestial dance, painted on the canvas of nature, a reminder of our place in the cosmos.”
A thoughtful silence descended. Galileo (physicist), ever the pragmatist, conceded, “The rotation certainly sets the stage.”
Iris, her fiery spirit mollified, added, “And the Earth’s curvature becomes the artist’s brushstroke, sweeping the sun away.”
Thales, eyes twinkling, allowed, “Our perception may be subjective, but the light’s interaction with the atmosphere, that’s objective.”
Amara (geographer), her map forgotten, smiled. “And the land, the very cradle of humanity, frames this magnificent spectacle.”
Seraphina (theologian), a gentle smile playing on her lips, concluded, “The sunset, then, is a symphony. Science sets the tone, art conducts the colors, geography lays the foundation, and within it all, we find a reflection of the grand question of our existence.”
The five, their initial discord a distant memory, fell into a comfortable silence, united in their newfound appreciation for the beauty and complexity of a simple sunset.
This AI generated a story of a conversation between five specialists from very different fields that shows them starting to see each other’s points of view. It is fun because it shows the flexibility of Generative AI in the process of helping our specialists learn from each other. Hopefully our dream of treating Generative AI as a social and technical icebreaker can help you to formulate prompts that will help you appreciate different ways of thinking.
With special thanks for Ellen Shay’s input.
This and our previous blog post show how considering different academic disciplines can help give thinkers perspective. Our next post will open up how most projects require considering many perspectives of steps and also different skills.
Ted Selker is a computer scientist and student of interfaces.
Berry Billingsley is an educator interested in philosophical “big questions.”
