#371 How to Use AI Without Losing Your Voice or Judgment

Summary

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Embracing Digital Transformation

Episode #371: How to Use AI Without Losing Your Voice or Judgment

Host: Dr. Darren Pulsipher
Guest Host: Paige Pulsifer
Date: July 28, 2026

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Main Theme

This episode delves into how individuals and organizations can use artificial intelligence (AI) effectively and ethically—without losing their unique human judgment, voice, or professional identity. Dr. Darren Pulsipher and guest host Paige Pulsifer discuss the content and motivations behind Darren’s newly released book, Becoming AI Augmented, exploring the balance between practical AI adoption and personal/professional authenticity in a rapidly digitizing workplace.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Personal and Professional Impact of AI

• AI is here—not just a future topic. Its effects are real, impacting both jobs and the quality of human decision-making.
  • "[AI] is already changing how people draft, decide, and deliver work.... The real issue for leaders is not whether the technology exists, but whether your teams can use it without losing quality, accountability or confidence."
    — Dr. Darren, (01:08)
• Job Disruption and Opportunity: AI is indeed taking some jobs, but it also creates new roles, requiring people to adapt and find new areas where they contribute value.
  • “It is taking people's jobs, but it doesn't replace you. … You have to find where you fit someplace else."
    — Paige, (00:57)

2. Moving From Fear Toward Empowered Adoption

• AI Anxiety is Normal: Many individuals feel apprehensive about AI’s implications and want to ignore it, similar to how people reacted to past technological revolutions (cars, electricity, the internet).
  • "I would say people felt the same way with the invention of the car.... AI is just another one of those revolutions that we're seeing."
    — Dr. Darren, (07:58)
• Cautious Skepticism is Healthy: Adopting AI should be coupled with discernment to avoid blind acceptance or misuse.

3. Preserving Individuality and Judgment

• AI as an Augmentation, Not Replacement: The goal is for people to use AI to amplify their strengths, not to become generic or overly dependent.
  • “This book really says, how can I use [AI] effectively, ethically? So that it brings out the best of me."
    — Dr. Darren, (09:24)
• Real-World Use: Paige shares that AI helps her craft more polished and authentic emails, but she remains in control of the final product.
  • “I am becoming more AI augmented.... I don’t think I would write an email today without using AI.... [but] it still sounds like me.”
    — Paige, (10:03–10:51)

4. Key Concepts from "Becoming AI Augmented"

• Story-Driven Approach: The book uses a continuous story arc (featuring characters Ava and Michael) to make AI's impact relatable and practical.

  • “You completely changed my whole perception on writing the first book. Everything down to introducing Sarah Bogue ... Your idea was to have that constant story.”
    — Dr. Darren, (03:47)

• Contrasting Archetypes:

  • Ava: Young, adept at AI, but less experienced—a self-proclaimed AI "faker."
  • Michael: Veteran subject-matter expert, initially wary of AI and underleveraging its capabilities.
    • The dynamic between them showcases the tension and growth possible when integrating AI into professional life.
  • “[Ava's] not a subject matter expert yet. ... Michael ... knows his stuff. AI is a little scary for him. And how these two approach problems is really fascinating.”
    — Dr. Darren, (12:25)

• The AI Faker vs. AI Augmented:

  • AI Faker: Someone who uses AI to fill knowledge gaps without underlying expertise—common and often a stepping stone to more genuine augmentation.
    • “I would call myself an AI faker when it comes to writing books.... [But] I'm not an AI faker when it comes to organizational management, cloud computing ... I am AI augmented.”
      — Dr. Darren, (15:13–15:56)

• The "Integrity Packet":

  • A structured approach for trustworthy AI collaboration: clarify assumptions, check evidence, own results, and assess risk.
    • “You needed to check it.... provide that feedback back into the AI so it gets better, and then taking that accountability and ownership of it. That's really what an Integrity Packet is.”
      — Dr. Darren, (20:36–21:52)

5. Human-in-the-Loop: AI as a Learning Partner

• Working with AI Audio: Paige and Darren recount technical and human challenges in producing the book’s audiobook using AI-cloned voices—demonstrating hands-on collaboration and necessary oversight.
  • “You can’t just go to AI and go, ‘do this for me.’ ... It needs so much more context.”
    — Paige, (18:46)
  • “The more context you give it ... the better off it is."
    — Dr. Darren, (19:21)

6. Scaling Knowledge and Legacy

• Rapid, Iterative Publishing: Darren uses AI-enhanced workflows to write multiple books quickly and consistently—expanding focus from teams and individuals to organizations and education sectors.

  • “I use the techniques I talk about in the book to help write the book.... I'm using AI to help me write these books in an AI augmented way.”
    — Dr. Darren, (29:34–30:57)

• Motivations Beyond Profit: The series is not about fame or money but about spreading understanding and fostering a movement of AI-augmented humans.

  • “I have a passion around this. I want everyone to understand it. ... The human is still in control. It's the thing that's the most important thing.”
    — Dr. Darren, (24:54)
  • "I do care to leave a legacy behind."
    — Dr. Darren, (32:54)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI’s Risk and Potential:
  • “The winners ... will not be the organizations that use AI most aggressively, but the ones that use it with the most integrity. That is how you stay relevant, credible, and in control.”
    — Dr. Darren, (34:08)
• On Human Judgment:
  • "AI should be measured by how well it extends human judgment, not by how much it automates without oversight."
    — Dr. Darren, (33:08)
• On Learning by Doing:
  • “You experienced what that means, which is making sure you've drawn out your assumptions correctly. ... That's really what an Integrity Packet is.”
    — Dr. Darren, (21:52)
• On Motivation:
  • "There's a part of me that says, I have all this experience, I want to pass it on."
    — Dr. Darren, (32:24)

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Important Timestamps

• [01:08] Why AI’s impact matters to workers and leaders now
• [03:14] Evolution from "AI Augmented Teams" to "Becoming AI Augmented"
• [07:34] Addressing fears and skepticism around AI
• [10:03] Paige describes becoming AI augmented in everyday work
• [14:00] The character dynamics (Ava and Michael) and what they represent
• [15:13] Definition and growth path from AI Faker to AI Augmented
• [20:20] The concept of "Integrity Packet" explained
• [24:54] The purpose behind writing the AI Augmented series
• [29:34] How AI is transforming Darren’s book writing process
• [33:08] – [34:08] Key takeaways: Human judgment, disciplined AI use, and leadership responsibility

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Episode Takeaways

• The real risk and opportunity of AI is not whether it will take jobs, but whether people and organizations will learn to use it with integrity and discernment.
• Everyone—regardless of expertise—can progress from “AI faker” to truly AI augmented, using structured approaches like the Integrity Packet.
• AI is most valuable when it frees us for work that showcases our unique human strengths—and when we remain in control.
• The story-driven, iterative approach modeled in Darren’s books and workflow is a practical demonstration of productive human-AI collaboration.

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For more insights, visit Dr. Darren's resources at embracingdigital.org or find the "AI Augmented" book series online.

Transcript

[Dr. Darren]

Welcome to Embracing Digital Transformation. Before we dive in, I wanted to personally thank you for listening. Many of the ideas we discuss on this show inspired my new book, AI Augmented Teams. If you're looking for practical ways to combine human expertise and AI to achieve better outcomes, I think you'll find it valuable. Learn more at Paydar AI Books. That is P A I D A R AI Books. Now, let's get started with the show.

[Paige Pulsifer]

So, okay, I like that because you and I have had lengthy discussions about this. We have that Darren will say, oh, AI is not taking people's jobs, it's creating. And I'm like, no, no, it is taking some people's jobs. It is, it is. So I think we finally agreed on that.

[Dr. Darren]

Yes.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Because it is happening. It is taking people's jobs, but it doesn't replace you. Doesn't replace you, but you have to find a new. You have to find where you fit someplace else. Right?

[Dr. Darren]

That's right. And that's what I try and bring out in the book. Becoming AI Augmented is all about learning how to use AI to become a better part of yourself.

Why this matters to you. AI is no longer a future topic. It is already changing how people draft, decide, and deliver work. The real issue for leaders is not whether the technology exists, but whether your teams can use it without losing quality, accountability or confidence. If your organization treats AI as a shortcut, it will create shallow work and hidden risk. If it treats AI as a capability multiplier, it can free people for higher value tasks. Let's explore what that looks like in practice. Welcome to Embracing digital transformation. This is Dr. Darren. On this episode, how to use AI without losing your voice or judgment with Paige Pulsifer.

Hey, welcome back to hosting my show.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Why, thank you. It's a delight to come onto your show and be the host for the guest host. Right. Am I the only guest host that you have ever had?

[Dr. Darren]

No, you're not.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Oh, yes, you had Anna.

[Dr. Darren]

You had Anna Scott.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Oh, Anna Scott. And then you've also had. Didn't you have like an AI interview you?

[Dr. Darren]

No, no, I interviewed the AI.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Oh, you interviewed the AI.

[Dr. Darren]

Okay, that's right.

[Paige Pulsifer]

That's right.

[Dr. Darren]

So. But no, I mean, you're the. You're the only recurring host co host that's come on the show. But normally when you come on the show, it means something's going to happen.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Hopefully something good.

[Dr. Darren]

You know what? Maybe if, you know, maybe if I'm hospitalized or anything, you can take over the space show.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Well, I think if you're hospitalized, we're just probably not going to have the show.

[Dr. Darren]

No, the show must continue on. Must. Must continue on. All right, so why are you here today? What's. What's the deal?

[Paige Pulsifer]

Well, Darren, I'm here because you have written another book. So the last time I interviewed you, you had written a book.

[Dr. Darren]

Well, let's bring that out.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Let's bring it out.

[Dr. Darren]

We got to bring it out. It's right behind you.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Is it? Okay, you got it.

[Dr. Darren]

There it is. All right. This is the last book. AI Augmented Teams.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yes. And that's when I interviewed you before. We talked about that book, why you wrote it, who it's for. We talked about all that, and now

[Dr. Darren]

we have Becoming AI Augmented Book Number two. Book number two. You know, when I first wrote AI Augmented Teams, I meant it to. To be becoming AI Augmented. But you were the one that said, darren, this book is not about individuals, it's about teams.

[Paige Pulsifer]

I did, yes.

[Dr. Darren]

And you completely changed my whole perception on writing the first book. Everything down to introducing Sarah Bogue in the first book and her journey as a manager of a teen going through their digital transformation for AI of one. That was all your idea. Your idea was to have that constant story.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Well, because I do love reading, I do love books, but my books are usually thriller, psychological. So I was like, darren, when's somebody going to get kidnapped? Or. It didn't happen. So it wasn't.

[Dr. Darren]

It didn't happen.

[Paige Pulsifer]

It wasn't as exciting. And so I said, but it could be story driven to make it a little more interesting and connect people to the book a little bit more rather than just being technical.

[Dr. Darren]

Well, so. And then when. With that, I said, okay, I can tell a little story at the beginning of each chapter.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yeah.

[Dr. Darren]

And. And that's kind of what I focused on was an individual story for each chapter. And when you read through it, you go, no, that's not going to work.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yeah. I wanted the com. A common story throughout all of them. The. The same characters carry the story through. I thought that would be more interesting because people are like, oh, what's going to happen? You know, what's going to happen to Leo? And trying to think of their names now.

[Dr. Darren]

Ava.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Ava. Yeah. What's going to happen to the, you know, in the next chapter? So, you know, I mean, not.

[Dr. Darren]

And it was brilliant. It was brilliant. So I shouldn't just have my name on these books. Your name should be on them, too.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Well, I expect more lengthy dedications to me in the front of these books.

[Dr. Darren]

Well, all right. I gave you a dedication in the fir.

[Paige Pulsifer]

In the first book you did, and I appreciated it. It was very nice.

[Dr. Darren]

The second book, though, I dedicated to

[Paige Pulsifer]

my parents, which lovely. It was absolutely lovely.

[Dr. Darren]

Don't get me starting to cry about that.

[Paige Pulsifer]

No crying today.

[Dr. Darren]

No crying today. All right, so the second.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Oh, wait, I'm sorry, I'm the host of the show. Why are you taking control?

[Dr. Darren]

Because that's what I do.

[Paige Pulsifer]

It's my show that I'm hosting for.

[Dr. Darren]

All right, go ahead, ask.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay, so, Darren, first of all, we briefly touched on this, but let's talk about it in a more lengthy way. Why did you write this second book?

[Dr. Darren]

Well, I wrote the second book because that's what I meant to write first.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay.

[Dr. Darren]

So I. I took the learnings from the first book and I wrote a book for people, for individuals, not managers of people, but for individual people. That's what I wanted to do first. I just went about it the wrong way. Okay. So that's why I wrote the book, because I want people to not be afraid of AI and not think that AI is replacing them. AI may replace people's jobs, but it can't replace you as an individual.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay, I like that because you and I have had lengthy discussions about this. We have that. Darren will say, oh, AI is not taking people's jobs, it's creating. And I'm like, no, no, it is taking some people's jobs. It is, it is. So I think we finally agreed on that. Yes, because it is happening. It is taking people's jobs, but it doesn't replace you. Doesn't replace you. But you have to find a new. You have to find where you fit someplace else. Right. You have.

[Dr. Darren]

Right.

And that's what I try and bring out in the book. Becoming AI Augmented is all about learning how to use AI to become a better part of yourself. And it really can apply to more than just AI. It can apply to any technology or anything. So the book is really almost like a self help book in some respects. It's finding yourself in this crazy world that we live in where AI seems to be taking over everything.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay, but what would you say? I have a lot of friends and I think just a lot of people in general, they are very scared of AI they don't want to become AI Augmented. They're scared. They want to ignore AI. They want to not have it in their lives because they are afraid of the implications of AI in our society, in our life. So what would you say about that?

[Dr. Darren]

I would say people felt the same way with the invention of the car. Technology comes and we learn how to use it for good. And some people will use it for bad. People use cars for bad things like robbing banks. Right, right. But it's just like when the car first came out, there were a lot of people that were scared of it. Right. Oh, what industries are going to change is going to change a lot of jobs. And it did, but it also created a lot of jobs too. So AI is just another one of those revolutions that we're seeing. We saw the industrial revolution, the invention of electricity, or the capturing of electricity, cars, computers.

[Paige Pulsifer]

I'm gonna say the Internet. The Internet. It is so funny to go back and watch people like news, you know, broadcasters that were, Those are so funny. Those are so many go back watching. They're going, you know, this Internet thing that's not going to work and that's not going to fly and it's just going to be a, you know, overnight thing and, and the Internet is used for good and bad.

[Dr. Darren]

Right, but can you go imagine the world without the Internet? No, it would be very difficult.

[Paige Pulsifer]

But we have to be very discerning and we have to be skeptical. Right. Of the Internet and AI. We have to be. We can't just go, okay, I'm accepting AI and everything's going to be great.

[Dr. Darren]

Well, and that's what I talk about in my book. That's why it's becoming AI augmented. Not becoming or relying on AI or learning prompting techniques. This book really says, how can I use it effectively, ethically? And so that it brings out the best of me. By relegating some of the other things that maybe I find boring in my job, I can relegate that to an AI instead. And then I can focus on things that are more in my strength, in my wheelhouse, that make, that makes me unique.

[Paige Pulsifer]

I, you know, I am becoming more AI augmented.

[Dr. Darren]

Yes, you are.

[Paige Pulsifer]

I am. I mean, I don't think I would write an email today without using AI to help me write an email.

[Dr. Darren]

And are you becoming dependent on it then?

[Paige Pulsifer]

In a way, yes. But I mean, could I still write my own email? Of course I could. Do you know what I mean?

[Dr. Darren]

But do you write more emails now than you used to?

[Paige Pulsifer]

I feel like my emails are, are more, they have more clarity and more direction. Do you know what I mean? Like, I feel like before I was always just trying to find those words and always trying to sound like I knew, maybe knew what I was talking about or.

[Dr. Darren]

You're more polished.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yes, but because my AI knows me, knows my personality, knows it helps Me write emails that still sound like me. And sometimes I'll say, well, that, that doesn't sound like me. You know, make that way more casual or more fun. And it does. And sometimes I still change the email, but I love it.

[Dr. Darren]

So that's one of the reasons why I wrote the book was to help people understand the follies of AI, the benefits of AI and all those things. And we told it in the storyline. I love the storyline in this book. It's a great storyline of two people and a couple other supporting characters. You mentioned Leo. Leo's a supporting character, the managing director of this company. But it really tells a great story between Ava and Michael.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yes.

[Dr. Darren]

And you got to. You. You actually got to go through the story in depth because. And we'll talk a little bit about that because you were building out the audiobook part of it, so you were going through. Making sure that it was easy to listen to.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Right.

[Dr. Darren]

I guess that's the best way to put it.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Well, and then it made sense. You know what I mean?

[Dr. Darren]

Like, are you saying my writing doesn't make sense?

[Paige Pulsifer]

I mean, I didn't say it. You said it, but I'm not going to disagree. No, it's just. It needed to. We need to make sure it flowed, that it made sense, that, that it was. Make that it was having Michael speak when Michael is supposed to be speaking and Ava speak when Ava was supposed

[Dr. Darren]

to speak, bringing out their personalities a little bit more.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yep.

[Dr. Darren]

Yeah. Yeah. So the really cool thing about Ava and Michael is Ava is young, great at AI, But. And they're both work for a civil engineering company and. But Ava doesn't have the experience that Michael has. Ava's not a subject matter expert yet. She's getting there. Michael, on the other hand, 30 years experience. Right. A white hair like myself knows his stuff. AI is a little scary for him. And how these two approach problems is really fascinating.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yeah, I agree. I agree. I actually really enjoyed reading about them and how they took turns. You know, Michael was kind of how great I am.

[Dr. Darren]

Yes.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Being very assertive. And Ava, you don't know what you're doing. And then all of a sudden it was Ava telling Michael he didn't know what he was doing. It was, it was a. It was a fun story arc to see how it came and went and.

[Dr. Darren]

Yeah. Well. And it's not all. It's all. Not all rainbows and unicorns either. No. Ava gets demoted, almost fired, has to work her way back up. So I love, I love how we can demonstrate some of the really cool things in the AI augmented operating system, which I developed in the first book and then I'm using in the second book in the becoming, which is really turned into this core. I call it the corpus canon. And you like that word. The other day when I brought that up, you're like, you've never used that before.

[Paige Pulsifer]

I was like, what is that?

[Dr. Darren]

It's the foundation that my books are built on.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Right.

[Dr. Darren]

And from this perspective, it's an individual perspective taken from someone that is new in the workplace. I call her an AI faker. We've had a big discussion about AI fakers and the underleveraged, which is Michael, who's been around a long time, a little bit afraid, a lot afraid of AI at the beginning and doesn't know where he quite fits as Ava supplants him. As the board starts going to Ava for things instead of him, there's a lot of conflict there. The internal conflict in both Ava and Michael. So it's actually a fun read. And then we do some teaching afterwards. So I kind of like the way that this turned out.

[Paige Pulsifer]

I did, too. Yeah. I like how you. It is like a story, and then it's. Then it's you talking about, you know, the story and what they've learned and what they're doing wrong and. But you mentioned AI faker. For those that haven't heard about that before or didn't read your first book. I mean, come on, you need to.

[Dr. Darren]

You need to go read the book.

[Paige Pulsifer]

You need to go read the book. But explain people what an AI faker is.

[Dr. Darren]

So in AI faker, it's. It's not a mean term, but it is in some respects. You don't want to be an AI faker, but it happens when you're using AI to kind of fake your way through. And it's okay. Even myself, I would call myself an AI faker when it comes to writing books because I'm not an expert in writing books. I don't have a foundation in that. But I'm using AI to help overcome some of my lack of knowledge. Right. I'm an AI faker still and those. And we have a dear friend that has published several books. She's a New York Times bestselling author. She's commented on my book a couple of times and say, oh, yeah, you're an AI faker. I can tell.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Right.

[Dr. Darren]

But I'm not an AI faker when it comes to organizational management, cloud computing, and things like that. I am AI augmented because I have subject matter Expertise in that. So I want to become more AI augmented when it comes to writing books. And I'm getting there as I learn and I progress. So that's really the difference. That's what an AI faker is.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yeah, I, I, and most people are AI fakers, and they don't even know that they're an AI faker.

[Dr. Darren]

Absolutely.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yeah, I know. I'm an AI faker.

[Dr. Darren]

Yeah, I, I am, too.

[Paige Pulsifer]

I am for sure an AI faker, but I am aware of it and I want to. I want to become. I want to become more AI augmented. Yeah.

[Dr. Darren]

Good sell on the book. Good sale.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Thank you.

[Dr. Darren]

What?

[Paige Pulsifer]

What?

[Dr. Darren]

You can get it on Amazon. Right. Okay. Well, let's talk about your help. You did quite a bit of work on the second book. You helped me out quite a bit with the audio part of the book because we generated the audio. This is actually pretty cool. The first book, we started off by you reading the narrative, you reading the story, and we captured about 30, 40 minutes of you reading the story.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Right.

[Dr. Darren]

And we cloned your voice. So there's a page clone out there, a voice clone out there, and we cloned my voice as well.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Right.

[Dr. Darren]

And so you handle all of the narrative part of the book, and I handle all the declarative, the teaching.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Right.

[Dr. Darren]

And you said you would help me out with getting the audio track ready. So you went through the book. What do you find in doing this? Was it enjoyable? Was it?

[Paige Pulsifer]

I mean, I, I knowing I don't mind doing stuff like that, it was frustrating for a bit because I would start going through it and then I would say, darren, this is really messed up. Like, it says it's Michael. It's not Michael. It says it's Ava. It's not Ava. And so then you would say, after me spending hours working on it, you would say, stop, let me go back. Let me try and fix that. And I don't know what that entailed. When you say fix that.

[Dr. Darren]

What it entails is me taking your feedback, feeding it back into the AI that was taking the book and putting voices to the individual people in the narrative and also in the, in the teaching part. And it had a hard time sometimes figuring out who was speaking. And so we had to give more context to the AI so it could do a better job at parsing this out for us so we knew who the right voices were to use where. And it still took, it took some iterations, us working with it. So it did.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yeah, because it was. No, it was very unreliable. It would be, it would Be going along just great for a while. And then all of a sudden it was completely unreliable and saying things that, you know, shouldn't have been saying and mixing people up. And so then when we have to stop, you'd have to go back and. And so that's what it was teaching me. You were teaching me about AI. You can't just go to AI and go, do this for me. Whatever it might be, just do this. It needs so much more context than just one sentence of do this for me.

[Dr. Darren]

It absolutely does. And the more context you give it or the more succinct in your context that you give it, the better off it is. Now, in the end, it actually did a pretty good job.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yeah, it did.

[Dr. Darren]

But you still had to edit parts of it. Right. There were still some things that messed up on. But we were like, that's good enough where I can make the changes. It still saves me time.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Right.

[Dr. Darren]

And now when we. When we do the work on the next book, which we're working on right now, another book, then it'll go much faster. So we're learning with the AI how to use it effectively.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yeah, it was. It was. It was frustrating. But you're right, it still ended up saving time. Even though it was frustrating, it still saved time of, you know, putting it in there line by line. You still were able to get it to where we needed it, close enough to where we needed it to be with just a few changes. So. But. So I guess that's what I'm trying to get to, is you have to be patient.

[Dr. Darren]

Well, and patient. And this fits into the concept in the book. In all in. In the books, both of them. The integrity packet concept.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yes. Explain what that is. You've mentioned that a few times, a few times before on your show and with your book. What isn't. What is Integrity Packet?

[Dr. Darren]

So an integrity pack is really simple. It's. It helps you generate, you know, decisions or content, whatever, in a reliable and defensible way. Just like with you with the audiobook, you needed to check it. You needed to put in your assumptions, you needed evidence that. That the AI could use. And then you had to take ownership and say, hey, I'm accountable for. For this going out. I want it to look good. And then what is the risk? And we put the risk up there, too. Is it okay if it misses two or three of the voiceovers? Maybe it's okay. So we put kind of a risk value up there. That's what an Integrity packet is. Those elements. So you actually ran an Integrity Packet in doing this work, not necessarily knowing that you were doing it. It was, you experienced what that means, which is making sure you've drawn out your assumptions correctly. Make sure that you're checking the work, provide evidence that you're checking the work, provide that feedback back into the AI so it gets better, and then taking that accountability and ownership of it. That's really what an Integrity Packet is.

[Paige Pulsifer]

So see, I am, I'm very much an AI faker because I was using the Integrity Packet without even knowing it. That's how much of a faker I am.

[Dr. Darren]

You're such a faker.

[Paige Pulsifer]

But now as I'm learning, right, I'm becoming less of a faker the more

[Dr. Darren]

I learn well, and that's the point that I want people to understand. I myself am I a faker in a lot of things, but I'm an AI augmented in others. And it will change as I grow and progress. I could be really good at AI and be an incredible AI faker. In fact, there's an archetype in AI faker called the polisher. I am not a polisher. Paige knows that I am not detail oriented, but maybe AI can help cover some of the, some of those follies that I have. But I'm constantly progressing and that's the key behind this. We show you how you can progress using the concept of Integrity Packet. You can create these Integrity packets as you generate things and they can be generated, they can be put back into the AI so it knows how you make decisions together with it. So it's a very powerful tool.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay, I like it. Are you done writing books?

[Dr. Darren]

No, not even close.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay, so you are writing a series of AI augmented books for different teams, individuals, educators, right?

[Dr. Darren]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay, so. So what is this year? So you have done teams and individuals so far, Right.

[Dr. Darren]

And I'm working on a book right now with a dear friend of mine, Jeremy Harris. He's a lawyer, a privacy and AI policy lawyer, great at what he does. He and I are writing a book together called AI Augmented Organizations.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay.

[Dr. Darren]

And what's cool about the way that we do this is as Jeremy and I've been looking at organizations and how. How to become an AI augmented organization, we found that the, the common thing that we use, the AI augmented operating system, that AAOs can be used across organizations, teams and individuals. So I have that common corpus, Common corpus canon that I just build out. And then the series of books is actually pretty cool because I just take on a different lens. I'm taking on the Lens in the organization book of the C suite of the leaders of an organization. And how can they use the same technique to empower their organization to become more AI augmented? That's the idea behind it.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay, so you're writing a series of books. Why? Is it for the money? Is it for the fame? Is it for the notoriety? Because we've sold so many.

[Dr. Darren]

Yeah. Not enough.

No, go and buy the book.

Yeah, go buy. Buy more of the book. Buy, you know what? Buy 100 copies. Yeah. For your friends and family and co workers.

[Paige Pulsifer]

So why are you doing this series of books?

[Dr. Darren]

Well, at first it was to get all these ideas in my head out.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay.

[Dr. Darren]

And it did. It forced me to articulate and form a model that I could reuse over and over again and explain to other people easily. So it kind of forced that. And. And I have a passion around. Around this. So much so that I want everyone to understand it. I want. I want people to see that there's hope out there because there's a lot of people that are really scared right now. I want them to see. No, you're in control. Right? These are. We're talking about becoming AI augmented humans. Right? We. The human is still in control. It's the thing that's the most important thing. And I truly believe that AI can bring the best out of people instead of us being relegated to doing nothing, which some of the CEOs out there and in the big gen AI companies are saying, oh, we just need to pay people to exist. I think that's horrible. There's so much value that we can provide, and if we can be augmented with this new technology, that's even better.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay.

[Dr. Darren]

So that's. That's my passion behind it.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay.

[Dr. Darren]

The series of books I am tackling the education market. I do teach at Vanderbilt, and I have been using these techniques for the last year with my classes. And now we're tackling the education market as well. I'm writing a series of books for education and I'm getting some great help from some fellow professors and administrators on writing those books based off of the same thing, the aaos, the AI Augmented Operating System. So I'm really excited about Helps. More people are getting involved in it. So it's turning into this movement. I call it the AI Augmented movement. So.

[Paige Pulsifer]

And you really enjoy it? You really enjoy doing this?

[Dr. Darren]

I do. It's a lot of fun.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yeah. And I enjoy having a husband that just is on his computer 24 7. I mean, it's the sarcasm. It is so fun.

[Dr. Darren]

All right. So do you, like, what do you do on the beach, honey?

[Paige Pulsifer]

Oh, here we go. Here we go. He's going back to when we used to go on a vacation. You and I would go on a vacation. And I'm sick because I love the beach. The beach is my happy place. And I would bring a book, right? And you know, nap, read, pina colada. Nap, read, repeat, pina colada. And you tried to do that the first couple times it went. Because I think you thought that that's what I wanted you to do.

[Dr. Darren]

That is what you wanted me to do. Let's be clear about it.

[Paige Pulsifer]

And then probably on our second or third vacation, you, like, get out your computer. And I'm like, you're bringing a computer to the beach?

[Dr. Darren]

Yeah. Because you thought I was working.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yeah, I was like, what, what do you like? You're supposed to be relaxing. And you're like, I am relaxing. I am relaxing. You don't enjoy listening to too many, you know, you don't enjoy listening to fictional books, really, about murder. I mean, you do. When we go on a car ride, we always do a book. Yeah, but you don't sit down and read a book for entertainment purposes very often. Hardly ever. So you were telling, you tried to explain to me that you being on your computer and coding or writing a book or whatever you're doing, that is your way to relax. And so I, I did, I, I grasp it now. I have no problem with you being the only person on the beach with your computer.

[Dr. Darren]

I am not the only person on the beach with my computer anymore. Other people, I started a trend. That's a trend.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay. So, yes, I, I, I don't have a problem with it anymore as long as I, I have to remind him sometimes to give me some attention.

[Dr. Darren]

Yeah, that is true. I do get lost when I'm writing. I get lost in the characters that I'm developing. I get lost in the philosophy behind the models that I build. Yeah. So. And I told you, pull me back in so I don't get lost.

[Paige Pulsifer]

I do. I have to, I have to pull him back in.

[Dr. Darren]

Now.

[Paige Pulsifer]

What I think people also might be interested in. So when did you, when did you write your first book? When did you start writing your first?

[Dr. Darren]

Probably in. When was it? January.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yeah, probably.

[Dr. Darren]

Probably January.

[Paige Pulsifer]

So since January, you have published two books, and you are well into some of your others.

[Dr. Darren]

The third, the third and fourth.

[Paige Pulsifer]

So how are you doing this? I mean, I think when most people think about writing a book, it's, you know, a year, two year A five year process. How are you writing these books so fast?

[Dr. Darren]

So this is actually pretty cool. I use the techniques I talk about in the book to help write the book. So I start with my core foundation, which I mentioned, the AI augmented operating system. And I really focus on that. How can that be used to help people, to help teams, organizations, teachers, students, administrators, whatever the case may be. And I focus on building that out. Then I have created several AI agents that help me make sure I have consistency throughout my corpus. And then working with partners now, because I want more perspectives coming in, I interview them about the corpus, we capture stories, and then from that we build up this profile of all this great content. And then I have about 35 to 40 agents that help me actually write the book. So developing character arcs, all that stuff. And this is where I could truly show that I'm AI augmented, because I don't know all the nuances of writing. I don't, and I probably never will. Right. But AI can help cover some of those gaps. I still am in control. I still control the character arcs, I still control the storylines. I have all of the work that I've already spent on the corpus, and it's bringing all that together with a new lens to help people from their perspective. Like the book we're writing for students, for example, I haven't started that one yet, but we are running one for educators. And I'm interviewing other professors at other universities on their findings on using AI and walking through the aos with them, and they're teasing out areas where I need more strength or I need to draw back a little bit. And we're capturing all that in a very unique way, and we're really excited about it. The people I'm working with are like, this is amazing. We can get our ideas out so quickly and revise them so quickly. So that's how I'm doing it. I'm using AI to help me write these books in an AI augmented way. Okay, so there you go.

[Paige Pulsifer]

I think it's. I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful. And I say this. I. I've said this many times. As we get older, I want to be less busy, less, and you want to be more busy. You've got your podcast, you teach, you have a wonderful job, you're writing books like you want to be.

[Dr. Darren]

I. I don't. There's a part of me that says, I have all this experience, I want to pass it on.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Right. I always tell people, you feel like you have an obligation for the things that you know. You feel like you have an obligation to share that with people.

[Dr. Darren]

I do. I do.

[Paige Pulsifer]

You do. You have a passion and an obligation. You say I I need to let people know these things. I.

[Dr. Darren]

And I don't know if that's fame. I really don't care that. I really don't know.

[Paige Pulsifer]

You don't care about. You don't care about fame.

[Dr. Darren]

But I do care to leave a legacy behind, right?

[Paige Pulsifer]

Yes.

[Dr. Darren]

Is that so? There you go. That's us in a nutshell.

[Paige Pulsifer]

Okay. Love you.

[Dr. Darren]

Are you sure?

[Paige Pulsifer]

I'm sure.

[Dr. Darren]

Thank you, Paige, for the insightful interview. This is what I take away from this interview. The first lesson is that AI should be measured by how well it extends human judgment, not by how much it automates without oversight. The second is that many professionals are already using AI in a limited area improvised way, which means leaders need a more disciplined model for context, review and accountability. The third is that fear is often a signal that people do not yet see where they fit in the new workflow. That is a management problem, not just a technology problem. Executives should ask themselves whether their teams know which tasks AI should absorb, which decisions must stay human, and how quality will be checked. They should also ask whether their AI strategy is building confidence or dependency. The broader trend here is clear. The winners over the next several years will not be the organizations that use AI most aggressively, but the ones that use it with the most integrity. That is how you stay relevant, credible, and in control.

Thanks for listening to Embracing Digital Transformation. If you enjoyed today's conversation, give us five stars on your favorite podcasting app or on YouTube. It really helps others discover the show. If you want to go deeper, join our exclusive [e-mail] embracingdigital where we share bonus content and you can always connect with other change makers like yourself. You can always find more [e-mail] until next time, keep embracing the digital transformation.