About 5 months ago, Patrina’s husband judged an innovation contest for college students. Think Shark Tank style: pitch your idea, impress the judges, answer their questions.
The concepts were very cool. The slides were gorgeous. Then the judges asked for more details.
The students couldn’t answer a single question.
They’d used AI to create the concepts and slides. But they didn’t understand what they were presenting!
Imagine sitting through that pitch. You’re impressed. You’re interested. Then you realize the people asking you to believe in their idea can’t explain it.
How much would you trust the rest of the presentation? Or those students? You've probably already labeled them as lazy in your head.
That’s a form of AI slop. And it’s showing up in Medical Affairs more and more, where trust is central to the job.
Inside this issue: how not reviewing AI-generated content costs you trust, a quick way to test your understanding, and a workshop to help leaders set clearer expectations around responsible AI use.
1. Why Not Using AI Responsibly Costs You Trust
We love hearing that MSLs are using what they learned in our AI trainings. Getting people comfortable enough to use these tools is a huge win.
But it's also leading to more lazy use of AI. Managers are asking MSLs to do something, and they get a pile of AI crap back. It's clear the MSL didn't put any thought into what they sent back to their manager. Here's the problem with this:
- It creates more work for everyone else
- Annoys your manager (rightfully so)
- Makes the MSL look really bad.
Trust is everything in Medical Affairs, and this slowly erodes it. Here's a simple test you should do with everything you create with AI.
2. Try the Follow-Up Question Test
Before you share something AI helped create, close the draft and try to answer these questions:
- Can you explain the main point in your own words
- Can you name the evidence behind it?
- Can you explain what it means for the person receiving it?
If you need to reopen the draft to answer any of these questions, do not send! You have more work to do.
3. It's time for an AI intervention
Leaders, “use AI responsibly” leaves a lot open to interpretation. Your team needs to know what you expect before they send you the next deck, report, or update. They need the specifics around what you should and should not be using AI for.
Otherwise, you are going to spend more and more of your time fixing your team's work.
On October 20 at 6 pm CT, we’re hosting AI Intervention: Stop the Slop, a 60-min hands-on workshop for Medical Affairs leaders.
You’ll build a 1-page AI Expectations Playbook, work through examples, and plan how to introduce it to your team.
TL;DR
- Do not blindly send AI-generated content without fully reviewing it ahead of time
- Use the 3 questions in the follow-up test to see if it's ready to send
- If you lead a team, your team needs clear expectations. Join us next Tue to build them a playbook
Using AI isn't bad and isn't going to cost you trust. How you use it will, though.
In your corner always,
Sarah, Patrina, & Ralph
P.S. What do you do when you accidentally AI-slop someone? How do you regain that trust? Reply to this email and let us know!
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