The Surprising Power of Sharing More With AI
I used to assume that everyone who used AI shared information with it as openly as I did. After all, how else could you get meaningful help from something that is supposed to work with you?
But over the past year, I have realized that is not the case. Even some of the most advanced people I know use AI in surprisingly shallow ways. They give it isolated tasks, a few lines of instruction, and then shrug when it returns something generic.
The real shift for me came when a close friend told me he shares absolutely everything with his AI assistant. Personal goals, work struggles, family context, ambitions, even quirks.
At first, that level of openness made me pause. But then I realized that is exactly how I had been using AI myself. I just had not put it into words. Because if you want someone, or something, to truly help you, you cannot only hand them a to-do list. You have to share the bigger story.
AI as a Teammate, Not a Vending Machine
Think about hiring a new employee. If all you ever give them are fragmented tasks like book this flight or write this email, they will get things done. But they will never anticipate needs, adapt to your style, or connect the dots.
Now imagine instead you say:
Here is what my business is about
Here is what matters most to me
Here is the kind of voice I use in writing
Here is where I hope to be a year from now
Here is why I do what I do
That is a different relationship. Suddenly, they are not just executing tasks, they are collaborating with you. AI is not human, but the principle is the same. If you only feed it fragments, you will only ever get fragments back.
Business and Personal Are Intertwined
One surprise in working with AI is how much the personal side of life affects the business side.
If I share that I have been at my cabin stacking firewood, AI might use that as a metaphor in an article draft. If I share that I am mentoring students, AI can frame advice in a teaching tone instead of a consulting one.
Business and personal experiences are always intertwined. The more your AI understands that, the more useful it becomes.
Feedback Is the Language of Growth
Another piece many people miss is feedback.
If AI produces something off-tone, the easy response is frustration. But the better response is to explain what is missing. For example, say this feels too formal, I prefer conversational. Add an analogy. Loosen the language.
Over time, AI internalizes these adjustments, just like a junior teammate would.
Where to Start: A Guide to Sharing With AI
Think of it as an onboarding package you would give a new colleague:
Your professional focus: what you do, who you serve, the industries you care about
Your goals: near term and long term
Your style: tone, pacing, analogies, words you like and avoid
Your context: current projects, events, challenges
Your reflections: what has worked and what has not
Your values: what matters to you, what lines you will not cross
Your personal texture: hobbies, side stories, experiences that add color
You do not have to share everything at once. Start with one or two areas. The more you share, the more natural and collaborative the relationship feels.
Closing Reflection
At the end of the day, I do not think of AI as a tool that simply does tasks. I think of it as a teammate, one that gets better the more I let it into my world.
The real mystery is not why AI feels shallow sometimes. The real mystery is why so many of us keep it at arm’s length.
When AI has surprised me most, whether in producing writing that sounded unmistakably mine or suggesting a strategy I had not considered, it almost always came from moments when I shared the bigger picture.
So maybe the question to ask is not how good is this AI. The better question is, how much of myself have I actually shared with it.