The psychological aspect of Secret Cyborgs

Secret Cyborgs is what Gregor Schmalzried also calls those users who use AI in a professional context for their work, but do not openly admit it. They are often driven by the thought that their skills and success are closely tied to their personal effort. It is a feeling that many of us know – the idea that success only truly counts if it is the product of hard personal work.

However, the reality is more complex. AI tools are not a shortcut to achieving success without effort. Instead, they enable professionals to focus their time on strategic and creative tasks rather than losing themselves in endless data analysis. And yet some hesitate to admit this. Why?

Part of the reason could lie in our ego. The ego is a powerful factor in human psychology. We crave recognition and validation for our abilities. We want to be perceived as competent and capable. The idea of acknowledging AI tools as instruments for mastering work could be felt as a threat to our ego – as an admission that we are not brilliant all on our own.

In this tension between personal ego and the professional environment, it is not always easy to admit to using AI. But we believe it is time to break down these barriers and view AI as what it is – a valuable tool that supports us in surpassing ourselves and providing better service to our clients.

“At the end of the day, it's not about how we achieve success, but that we achieve success.”

— Olivia Ulbing-Sommeregger, Founder oha! digital

oha! we confess – we use AI every day because it makes sense for our clients! 

Our motto: time is precious. AI takes over tedious, monotonous tasks and analyses data in real time. This gains us valuable hours that we can invest in supporting and developing our clients. In addition to AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney, AI is also increasingly being integrated into other tools that we were already using before. Later, for example, which we use for scheduling & tracking, has also integrated AI features since 2023. Canva also integrated 3 new AI features into their software last year, and it tends to be more rather than less in other tools we use on a daily basis too.

Transparent and proud as punch

We are transparent regarding our use of AI. We rely on this technology to serve our clients better and develop more effective strategies. And we are proud of it. Our goal is to inspire the industry and show that AI should no longer be a secret. So all that's left to say is – don't be a Secret Cyborg, because eventually you can stand out with your AI skills rather than hiding them.

Do you want to expand your AI skills with a focus on social media marketing?

Then this course could really be something for you 😉

This article was written with the help of ChatGPT. Some passages were adopted word-for-word, while others were supplemented or rewritten by me because I didn't like the phrasing or the information was irrelevant. And that is exactly how AI should support everyday work.