AI is here, how does the future of Personal Knowledge Management PKM look like ?
Well, it’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it ? As heirs to a generation of films that showed how artificial intelligence would change the way we manage our personal lives, it is important to talk about the use of generative AI in our everyday lives. It’s 2024, and ChatGPT, Midjourney, Siri and the like are part of our lives. People will ask AI to give them the perfect daily schedule, create the best to-do list, be their therapist or coach, and use it at all times to assess and fix their lives.
But without going that far, how could we use AI for our personal knowledge management? could AI be the solution to help us improve our journaling habits and make the most of every note we take during meetings? get a second look at our budgeting and help us improve our to-do list? organise our folders and be able to focus on tasks that require our true expertise? Well, I have gone down the rabbit hole and hope to bring back some answers to all these questions I ask myself.
First of all : what is AI ?
Generative AI, sometimes called gen AI, is artificial intelligence (AI) that can create original content — such as text, images, video, audio or software code — in response to a user’s prompt or request. (Cole Stryker — Editorial Lead, IBM)
Generative AI is just a subset of the broader term artificial intelligence. No Jarvis or Minority Report yet, this type of AI is trained on data not to predict or think, but only to create new content, data, images… based on the data it has been trained on. That’s why, depending on the Gen AI you use, the results can vary from one to the other, depending on the database it was originally trained on. Why is this important? Because it can lead to bias, poor quality results, and the creation of redundant and unoriginal content. But it can also give you the opportunity to make the most of your personal data by using Gen AI with a large dataset to get efficient and quality-based content.
AI and my datas ?
Depending on what side of the pond your data is stored and used, your data might not be protected and used the same way. As of the July, 12th 2024, the AI Act has been published, and entry in force happened in August 2024. This AI Act is a European regulation on artificial intelligence (AI) — the first comprehensive regulation on AI by a major regulator anywhere. The Act assigns applications of AI to three risk categories. First, applications and systems that create an unacceptable risk, which are banned in the European Union. Second, high-risk applications, such as a CV-scanning tool that ranks job applicants, are subject to specific legal requirements. Lastly, applications not explicitly banned or listed as high-risk are largely left unregulated. This new regulation, also apply to the use and storage of your data, as was already done in the EU since the entry in force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2016.
THAT BEING SAID, these regulations have two very important implications for the use of AI in Europe: for one, not all AI apps/tools currently entering the market at the moment are widely available in the EU (leading to some upgrades on Meta products being unavailable to certain users and countries). And lastly, because there are laws in place doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful about how much personal information you share with the apps you like to use. You are still the first to protect your own data.
Some tools I’m curious about
Now let’s talk about TOOLS ! You know me as a thorough Notion user but there’s always more out there and and even though I HAVE to mention Notion Ai, I’m going to list a few other tools that will definitely become daily use in my life from now on. Especially from European developers:
- Mistral AI: (France) Great for text generation, this conversational tool could be compared to ChatGPT but Le Chat has a better understanding of images and feels more like an assistant than Chat GPT https://mistral.ai/news/le-chat-mistral/
- Elium (Belgium): Perfect for collaborative knowledge sharing. Its AI features streamline classification and team content creation. https://elium.com/
- Constella: A visual tool that automatically categorizes and links notes, helping you see the bigger picture. https://constella.ai/
- Magma Tutor: (Switzerland) Enhance learning with a personal tutor that can create microlearning paths to help you master knew skills and knowledge efficiently. https://magmatutor.com/landing
- Roam Research : Enhance note-taking with networked thought and personal data organization https://roamresearch.com/
- Fabric.so : second brain system, store every type of file/data/content and create interconnected knowledge from there on. https//fabric.so
At the end of the day however, Notion and Obsidian remain personal favorites. Their integrations with AI have made capturing and organizing ideas effortless. Highly recommend checking out Notion AI “Summarize tool”. It’s definitely a game changer for me.
How can AI change my life ?
At the end of the day, it’s all about being more efficient and use technology to help us focus on what’s important : being happy & not waste energy/time on redundant tasks.
AI WILL and IS a time saver. The hours I’ve saved by automating tagging, summarising and searching are incalculable. Instead of sifting through notes, I can focus on acting on insights. As the technology grows and improves, I know I’ll have more and more time to do the things that matter (e.g. write a great article about the insights I learned while AI was drafting my emails and reports for me).
AI keep me organized. Even though I’ve always been a calendar, notes and lists person, it’s hard for me to keep track of everything. Thanks to AI, my knowledge base has become a living system that is always relevant, but more importantly, UP-TO-DATE. I’ve always dreamed of a tool that could help me keep track of changes, and AI ensures that nothing falls through the cracks.
AI brings out new ideas. When brainstorming, sometimes the limits of my own imagination can hit me very quickly for many reasons and AI helps me make connections I wouldn’t have spotted on my own.
Now, should we do it ?
No tool is perfect unfortunately and AI comes with its own se of challenges but also still has a long way to go. So my advice is : be enthusiastic (as I am) but cautious.
Concerns that may be raised about the use of AI in PKM
Privacy concerns are the main subject you’ll hear about when it comes to AI. But this is an issue you’ll meet with every cloud storaged technology. While using any online tool, the question of data security is to be raised. Just be cautious not to upload personal data (yours and anyone who would share theirs with you) on any online tool -especially if you’re using a free version- and prefer tools that offer local storage or encryption.
Over-reliance is another subject of caution. It’s very tempting to let AI do everything for you. But I’ve learned that critical thinking, manual curation and self-reliance are irrplaceable. Balance is key. Let AI draft your notes, do the work of correcting it and make sure it answers your needs.
Context matters.. and AI can lack context. Because the tool is not perfect, it will struggle understanding the nuances in my notes and I have to make sure to review AI outputs to make sure they align with my intentions. Don’t just trust AI, at the end of the day, you’re the one who will use the datas and content it has created. Make sure it’s really what you need.
PKM Ai is now but it’s also in the future
While I’m not going to change my whole PKM system to incorporate AI, I’m happy I can slowly enhance my system with these great tools. But what’s most excited about is the future.
- AI will help me better understand my goals and optimise my KM system to make my learning and life as a whole more efficient.
- An Assistant in my pocket, and a very personal one also as it will be made for me, by me, based on the system I built but also the information and knowledge I provided AI to be perfect for my needs.
- The seamless integration with brain-computer interfaces for faster knowledge transfer that will change my relationship to information and others.
For those of us navigating the complexities of knowledge work, AI isn’t just a convenience—it’s a necessity. While being thoughtful and cautious in our use, we need to integrate these tools into our workflows and stay ahead of the curve so we can turn information overload into an opportunity for growth. For ourselves and our companies.
AI is revolutionizing the way I manage my knowledge, and I’m confident it can do the same for you. Yes it has its challenges and there’s no need to rush to use every single tool on the market. But if you’re reading to take your PKM game to the next level, maybe it’s time to try at least one today ? And if you have to try, which one would you pick ? What are you the most excited about doing with AI and KM in the future ?
