Two weeks ago, I visited the first Asian Literary Festival in Brussels and grabbed two new books for my library. I also got to talk with experienced migrants and learned how they made sense of their journeys by writing stories.

Tell your story. Even if you use AI to do it (because you don’t trust your writing skills). But remember also that using AI has a hidden tax. On the way we think. The way we process information. And the way that people understand us.

AI use (or misuse) is one of the things that bothers me in this modern age. But it also keeps me hopeful.

Tech should be a force for good, not a weapon for destruction. It’s up to us to decide which one to use it for.

Speaking of using tech for good, I was reminded of my recent conversation with Ömer from Coders Beyond Borders. Ömer is currently building an AI-powered tech solution to simplify legal support for the integration of refugees and asylum seekers in the Netherlands (and possibly the EU).

Ömer’s team is looking for volunteers to help research migration laws, and gather other relevant information. If this interests you and you’re looking for volunteer work, feel free to reach out, and I’ll connect you to him. Or you can visit the website and contact them directly.

How to read these journals?

Have you heard of the competence penalty? 

You incur the competence penalty when people doubt your skills and ability just because you're using AI. 

It's why people would not immediately disclose when they're using AI because they would want to protect their professional reputation. 

I read about the competence penalty in a recent HBR article.

And the article presents that women and stereotyped groups will suffer the most, especially when AI use becomes part of performance evaluations.

As a migrant and a woman, I can relate.

For example, in a work environment, I would not think of using AI to write a technical memo if that would put a doubt on my writing ability.

Thus, in that area I would avoid using AI, and I would produce the memo in my own words. It might take me longer, but I at least knew for myself that it's my own work and competency that produced the memo's content.

And even if I use AI for example in summarizing technical audit guidance, I would not say that I used AI because doing so would put a doubt on previous work.

I would care about protecting my professional reputation because I'd like to believe that it's my competence that got me hired or promoted in the first place, and not because I'm a woman or a minority.

In contrast, someone whose writing is not the strongest suit will probably think of using AI to write the memo. It might take them faster, depending on the quality of the prompts.

If you're the reviewer of our work, and our memos looked identical in quality, but I didn't use AI and the other did, who will you rate better?

***

The HBR article shared the study results where people tend to rate a person's competence lower when they learned that the work was AI-assisted, and even lower when the person is a woman.

It's not about the quality of the work, but their perception of the person who did the work.

"Our research shows that women using AI face nearly twice the reputation damage as men. Older workers in youth-dominated fields face similar bias. " - HBR article, The Hidden Penalty of Using AI at work

***

How do you self-check so that your personal bias does not stop you from making the most out of technology?

PS. What’s your spicy take on this? Feel free to reply to this email and share your thoughts.

The new “Survive and Thrive” Toolkit is now available. I created this for anyone aspiring to live and work abroad (or move to a different country).

Check out the full toolkit here.

Upcoming events

Join from anywhere:

P.S. Like what you’re reading? Forward this newsletter to a friend or colleague, and invite them to subscribe.

PPS. Ideas and suggestions are always welcome. Reply to this email if you have some.

Thanks for being part of the Survive and Thrive newsletter community! If this email has been forwarded to you, click subscribe to continue receiving updates.