How I Use Artificial Intelligence as a Professor

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the most important technological advance since the internet. In four years, AI has transformed how white-collar work is done.

In this post, I will briefly describe how I use AI in my own work as a professor. The work itself consists of research, teaching, and administrative duties.

I use AI in three main ways: finding information, as a writing aide, and to learn new skills.

I consider myself a somewhat but not very sophisticated user of AI. I never made a specific effort to improve my AI use.

Rather, I learn as I go. When I encounter a new challenge, I see if an AI tool could help me. Almost always, the answer is yes.

1. Finding information

The most important way I use AI is to find new information.

In the past, finding new information was a major challenge. I could either do an extensive online search or delegate the task to a human research assistant. The first approach requires a lot of time. The second approach costs money and requires a lot of waiting, as humans do not work fast.

Now, much of the basic information can be found by a simple AI query. My university, Johns Hopkins, has a suite of professional AI tools. Sometimes I don’t even bother to log into the system but instead use the free version of ChatGPT or Claude.

This somewhat boomerish use of AI has been a game-changer for me. In practice, much of my work consists of going to different countries for a two-way exchange on the energy transition. Preparing for those excursions is much easier and faster than in the past.

I do note that using AI to find information about a topic you don’t understand is a bad idea. I have found that AI tools frequently make little errors. Because my searches are in my area of expertise, I can detect those errors quite easily.

2. Writing aide

I am usually a fast writer. When I need to write something, such as a new post for this rapidly growing newsletter, I can get it done quickly.

The part that takes a lot of time is basic background information. Using AI, I can write those background sections much more easily.

I am not saying that I just tell AI to write for me. That would be counterproductive, as the purpose of my writing is to offer an authentic voice on the energy transition and other important topics. I doubt anyone would read these missives if they were generic AI slop.

Instead, I ask AI to produce some basic text that I then rewrite carefully.

The other day, I was writing about the Senegalese power sector. I told AI to give me a few paragraphs on why Senegal uses so much oil. I then checked the sources and confirmed that the AI’s narrative is based on good research. Finally, I edited the text so that it was in my voice.

To me, this approach strikes the right balance between efficiency and authenticity. I am still the captain of the ship, but thanks to AI we are moving a lot faster than in the past.

3. Learning new skills

I am always looking for opportunities to develop my skills, whether it is for innate curiosity or to make a profit.

AI has allowed me to learn some new skills at a fast pace. For example, I have recently spent a lot of time learning mathematical finance.

I started by reading a textbook on the topic and studying the theorems, just like an innocent graduate student would. It was a lot of fun and I now regret not going into finance as a young man. It is a truly fascinating field.

But when I started applying those concepts, I often spent hours sparring with various AI tools. I asked them to criticize my ideas from various perspective, ranging from risk-reward calculations to margin requirements.

Without these tools, it would have taken me a lot longer to learn the basics. I would have also made mistakes that would have cost me a lot of money.

I estimate that getting to basic competence took me about 3 months instead of the usual 6-12 months. That is simply incredible.

4. AI and the future of work

I am convinced that AI will result in significant productivity improvements over time. I can barely remember how work was done before AI, and it has only been a few years since ChatGPT showed up.

The pace of innovation is only accelerating. I am sure that my own use of AI is quite primitive compared to what the cool kids are doing these days. But I will continue to learn and improve. These investments will continue to pay off by making my work easier and by making my career, business, and investing more profitable.

But AI is already causing major challenges for young people looking for entry-level jobs. In the past, entry-level jobs were based on simple tasks that could not be automated. With AI, so much more can be automated.

In the future, the pipeline from a college student to a renowned expert may look very different from today. Corporations and institutions may need to dedicate specific resources to upskill junior hires because AI is doing the basic work that enabled working-by-doing in the past.

Or perhaps AI will eventually replace all of us, including plumbers and heart surgeons. At that point, socialism may finally have its moment. Capitalism works because people need strong incentives to overcome our innate laziness. But if AI does all the work, that no longer matters.