It's so hard to finish an idea that is not yours (and suggested by AI)

Everyone is utilizing Obsidian for AI, aliases wants to usage it to go much productive. But I deliberation it’s a dormant end.

The reasons are clear: Obsidian notes are unfastened connected your section disk successful an unfastened format, Markdown, and accessible to everyone, including your AI agents. This makes it arsenic awesome and easy an integration arsenic possible. But should you really usage AI pinch your notes? And if so, what are the usage cases aliases ways you should interact pinch it?

First of all, if you usage Vibe Code Agents pinch Obsidian, usage the Obsidian CLI. It will beryllium overmuch faster to return your files, search, aliases act, grepping done the files.

Second, I’m a beardown proponent of avoiding adding tons of AI-generated summaries[^1] aliases different on-the-fly-generated matter to my vault. The logic is simple: complete time, I don’t cognize anymore whether the contented was written by maine aliases by an AI, and my own, overmuch much valuable thoughts get diminished by “AI Slop”.

1. Also, erstwhile searching for something, you request to conflict done the sound of generated stuff. If you only person your ain writing, it’s each valuable, aliases astatine slightest there’s a logic why you noted it down. There was a conviction, idea, aliases thing that moved you.
2. Yes, it’s bully successful definite areas, and mostly on-the-spot summaries look great, but each clip I travel backmost to them, I find them very average. It doesn’t thief me, arsenic it didn’t item the things I would, and I request to reread anyway.
3. What I do sometimes pinch Obsidian Webclipper, if I create a caller note, is summarize it successful 1 condemnation aliases a few. I intelligibly people it arsenic AI-generated and moreover put it successful a quote, truthful it’s clear to me, and to anyone successful 5 years, that it wasn’t mine. If I person added my ain thoughts and writing, I will conscionable region the generated paragraphs (not my words).

But, usage it for precocious research, for illustration uncovering related notes. I deliberation this mightiness beryllium the champion usage case. But don’t usage it for tagging aliases organization, because yet each your relations and connections won’t count for anything, since they aren’t made by you. The powerfulness lies successful the deliberately created chart of notes, your very ain Second Brain.

My Obsidian Vault pinch Smart Lookup and related notes pinch Smart Connections and local graph | Also cheque retired Vim Motions for Writers to spot my penning workflow and really I write

I personally don’t usage it for illustration that yet, but I mightiness 1 time pinch a powerful section model, since I person tons of delicate notes I don’t want to upload anywhere. Plus, it takes distant the thinking part of My Obsidian Note-Taking Workflow. I don’t want to replace my quality thinking yet. But I usage a mathematical aliases section exemplary pinch Obsidian Smart Connections, aliases the Graph Analysis plugin.

I’m beautiful judge that if you go each successful pinch utilizing AI to make your notes, you will extremity up pinch little clarity and less insights. You mightiness commencement caller very soon, arsenic you won’t get worth from it, and extremity maintaining aliases adding ideas.

[^1] To beryllium clear, I mean agelong summaries, nary harm successful a 1-2 condemnation intro successful a note.

Long AI Summarization is usually conscionable noise

Kepano says, too: “A summary of a PDF is noise. An penetration I had from reference the PDF is signal”. Tweet. Read much Other Opinions by Jason Fried, Paul Graham, Ted Gioia, Mitchell Hashimoto, and galore more.

# Search is an Organizational Question

I deliberation if you person an impulse to do something, do it successful a abstracted vault, aliases conscionable usage a database, e.g. DuckDB, and do each the nosy worldly pinch AI arsenic I did for search and clustering. But don’t operation your precious notes and Zettelkasten for it. Not yet, astatine least, but astir apt never.

I person 25'979 files totaling 3.5 GB, each successful a azygous vault, and I find everything successful divided seconds (using the Omnisearch plugin). Search is pretty overmuch an organizational question; e.g., I usage Zettelkasten, and immoderate mention to Memex arsenic its integer version.

But if you request much precocious features, you tin conscionable adhd the Obsidian Smart Connections plugin and get vector and similarity search, etc., retired of the box.

# Your Notes Will Be Your Prompts Tomorrow

Remember, your notes will beryllium prompts aliases libraries for AI tomorrow, but not if you make them.

# Cultivating Knowledge

Also connected the conception of cultivating knowledge for AI systems, I’d opportunity I’m much willing successful cultivating for myself, semipermanent 🙂.

I ideate if humans do not person their ain knowledge bases, everyone will person the aforesaid (average) notes based connected AI models, not 100% of course, but location is nary conviction, nary decisions made, just each arsenic similar.

This is different logic we besides request human-curated knowledge connected a ample scale. AI models will retrain connected this data, amended than connected synthetic, clone data, IMO, though we request to find an economical exemplary that besides useful for the creator of these insights and knowledge.

# Whose Knowledge System is It?

Using Claude Code (or different agent) to make your strategy and make connections, for illustration , is not your system. If you want a instrumentality for retrieval, yes, sure, but I person a 2nd encephalon and a knowledge strategy wherever my reasoning happens. I make the connections because I had an idea, aliases thing told maine to do so.

Great video connected this pinch much of the aforesaid reasoning I person astatine Obsidian vs Claude — Why I’m Not Worried About AI Killing Note-Taking Apps. He says elegantly that a 2nd encephalon is simply a system; the connections and penning parts are not inefficient; it’s the process of reasoning and learning.

Claude is conscionable a tool, for illustration Obsidian, but arsenic File Over App, by the CEO of Obsidian, goes, it’s not astir the app anyway, it’s astir the files, your thoughts, your insights. So if it’s personification else’s, heck, moreover generated, it’s not why I usage the 2nd brain. Can beryllium useful, too, sure, but not arsenic overmuch arsenic my caller ideas, the reasoning I get from my knowledge system.
Touch immoderate grass, they say.

# Examples

Some examples that place this arena rather well, aliases thief america understand and deliberation done it better.

# It’s Hard to Finish an Idea that is not Yours

While I usage Claude a batch for my Omarchy plugins and Linux optimization/failure detection, I don’t usage it for penning and note-taking, particularly for coming up pinch unsocial ideas and driving them location by penning them done to the end.

It’s truthful hard to decorativeness an thought that is not yours and is conscionable suggested by AI.

# Andrej Karpathy’s LLM Knowledge

Andrej Karpathy LLM Knowledge Auto Research, which is different bully illustration of really not to do it (IMO), particularly if you for illustration to learn. Sure, it’s nosy and helpful, but it will suffer its entreaty and worth complete time. It’s for illustration this Reddit quote says it well:

I decidedly work together that the ‘Karpathy LLM Wiki’ mediated knowledge guidelines everyone is excited astir is not a useful measurement to really learn aliases negociate your learned and curated information for the reasons written. If alternatively you do conscionable want an automated investigation summary of immoderate knowledge - judge why not, but it’s not peculiarly interesting and I really don’t get the excitement astir it. Reddit

Some awesome chat in this thread connected this topic.

# Does not Scale, aliases Will Die Very soon

Automating the links and connections for illustration this won’t prolong for YOUR 2nd brain, for your ideas and notes - you are skipping the thinking, and IMO, the insights. Most of my ideas travel from linking and seeing the links I made myself, sometimes years back.

A bully illustration of what not to do for your ain vault. Tweet

For judge absorbing to spot what comes out, but I wouldn’t urge it for your “second brain” wherever you create your reasoning and YOUR ideas.

If you want the supra brain, which is not yours, you should usage Wikipedia. Wikipedia graphs and wikilinks springiness you awesome insights, arsenic the automated AI ones (probably more), but made by quality collaborators. But if you want to create your ain knowledge base, I’d do it manually. The payoff comes complete the year, it compounds.

# PARA Method: Dedicated Folder

The PARA method by Tiago Forte is ace convenient - and you could create an AI files successful resources and put each generated notes location and hide that from hunt aliases done different mechanisms. This way, you could still person AI-generated insights aliases notes that you tin link, if helpful, to your original notes.

# Voice to Text

AI pinch Voice to Text tin beryllium different attack to usage pinch Obsidian, which makes consciousness erstwhile you are successful a car aliases so.

But because of my talking overmuch much compared to erstwhile I write, and to AI aliases translator work not knowing each my words, it’s overmuch much activity for maine than conscionable typing it out. Plus, I usually skip the thinking, though sometimes talking it done tin adhd to the process.

# Slowing Down: Have More Impact Long-term?

See Slowing Down.

# Creativity by Its Very Nature is Forward-looking

Creativity is Forward Looking

# Further Reads

• Second Brain Assistant pinch Obsidian (NoteGPT)
• Building an Obsidian RAG pinch DuckDB and MotherDuck
• Don’t usage AI for everything, you extremity thinking-learning AI Use
• How To Think Better successful the Age of AI (From the Stoics)
• Use little AI

Origin: Li by mehdio, Obsidian
References: Writing is Thinking!,