Is using Artificial intelligence in a Personal Knowledge Management system a good idea?

I started my Personal Knowledge Management System (PKM) in the summer of 2021, based on the Zettelkasten method. 

I started using the Personal AI application in 2023, which raised the question: Is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) within your Personal Knowledge Management system a good idea? I will look to answer that question in this blog post or at least move closer to an answer.

The Rise of Artificial Intelligence in Personal Knowledge Management

I first became aware of Artificial Intelligence in Personal Knowledge Management systems when I took my first look at Mem, as the developers of that application were making a lot of noise at that time of having Artificial Intelligence on the paid-for version of Mem, which would help show you links between notes and for note summarisation.

In late 2022, Notion added Artificial Intelligence tools to the application. These tools could be used for general Artificial Intelligence tasks such as brainstorming and helping to lay out blog content, but they could also summarise the content of a Notion page or block.

In 2023, I started using Personal AI, which learns about you from the information you feed it. It worked well enough for me to see where the technology was going, and that is when I started to question whether you should be using Artificial Intelligence in a Personal Knowledge Management system. In the next section, we will explore the possible downsides of using Artificial Intelligence in your Personal Knowledge Management system.

Potential downsides of Artificial Intelligence in a Personal Knowledge Management System

The whole point of a Personal Knowledge Management system is to generate knowledge from the information you consume and process. Knowledge that will, at some point, generate new ideas and knowledge within your mind due to the interconnection between ideas and concepts in your mind and inside your Personal Knowledge Management system. This process can only really be carried out by myself.

Studies have shown that using the most straightforward and narrowest forms of Artificial Intelligence has reduced our ability to carry out these tasks. For example, Google Maps has reduced our mental capabilities to navigate. Do I really want the same to happen to my ability to process information and turn it into knowledge? Do I really want to lose my ability to think critically?

Another concern I have is the sharing of personal information with artificial intelligence, which could be shared with others. There have been allegations made against various AI platforms. In April 2023, Open AI was not allowed to operate in Italy due to concerns by the Italian data protection agency.

The Benefits of Integrating Artificial Intelligence in a Personal Knowledge Management System

Pairing an Artificial Intelligence system with your notes will help make the response more personable to you. It is based on the information you have fed into your knowledge management system, and therefore, the answer will consist of things you have already consumed and learned.

Niklas Luhmann was famous for using Zettelkasten to write many books and articles. In one article about his system, he stated that using his Zettelkasten was like having a conversation with his notes. With Artificial Intelligence, you could make that idea a reality.

Artificial Intelligence could help you identify gaps in your knowledge, suggest content that you could look at creating and publishing, or brainstorm ideas.

How I plan to use Artificial Intelligence in my Personal Knowledge Management system in 2024

As I want to turn information into knowledge within my Personal Knowledge Management system, I’m not going to rely on Artificial Intelligence to identify potential links. Still, if it suggests any links that I miss and it seems appropriate I will look to add them.

However, I will use Artificial Intelligence to help me identify content I can write about and to help me layout blog posts. In fact, I used the Obsidian community plug-in Smart Connections, which works with various AI models, including chat-GPT, to create the layout for this very blog post.

I haven’t followed the layout blindly, as I never do, by moving chapters around and deciding some sections were not big enough to warrant their own section. But as a map of ideas, it was very helpful.

How will you use artificial intelligence in your personal knowledge management system?

Last updated 05/05/2024