In today’s column, I explore the trending topic of manifestation, namely the belief that you can manifest your ideas and ambitions into real-world results. The surprising twist is that generative AI and large language models (LLMs) can play a notable role in identifying and attaining your manifestation aspirations.
Let’s talk about it.
This analysis of an innovative proposition is part of my ongoing Forbes.com column coverage on the latest in AI including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here). In addition, for my comprehensive analysis of how AI is being used specifically in medical and healthcare applications, such as for mental health guidance, overall cognitive therapy, and mind-improving care, see the link here.
Manifestation Is Notably At Top Of Mind
The belief in manifestation is trending.
People are drawn to the idea that putting your mind toward some big-time goal or outsized desire will make that dream come true. Many online websites and postings seek to convince you of this. They insist that you can fully manifest your hopes. Success is just a matter of adopting manifestation techniques and methods.
I dare say that you can divide these manifestation exhortations into two camps:
- (1) Practical manifestation camp. You are encouraged to use positive thinking as a motivational tool.
- (2) Fanciful manifestation camp. Your willingness to engage in manifestation will bring you success by the very act of manifestation itself.
In the first group, there is a fact-based, science-focused argument that people are more likely to achieve something if they carry a positive attitude and work astutely toward their aims. You aren’t guaranteed success, but you are likely increasing your odds with a semblance of determination and pure grit.
The second group might be labeled as fanciful in the sense that it is assumed that the world will essentially hand you what you want simply by having a belief that this will indeed happen. Critics and skeptics refer to this as a form of magical thinking. Worries are that this borders on junk science or pseudoscience and creates false hopes. It also readily opens the door to unseemly scams.
Underlying the premise that manifestation innately produces results is an aspect referred to as the so-called law of attraction. It goes like this. Like attracts like. This implies that positive thoughts beget positive outcomes. Similarly, on the other side of that coin, negative thoughts beget negative outcomes. To some degree, we can probably partially agree with the sentiment of this assertion, though sometimes the consideration is taken a bit too far.
Research Tells Us About Manifestation
There is an abundance of academic research that has closely examined manifestation. Most of this work usually leans into the psychological and cognitive elements of the topic. This makes sense since these are principally matters of the mind. It deals with our beliefs and what we do regarding those beliefs.
In an analysis entitled “What Is Manifestation? Science-Based Ways to Manifest” by Tchiki Davis, Psychology Today, December 3, 2023, these salient points were made (excerpts):
- “The word ‘manifestation’ means to turn an idea into a reality.”
- “Usually, we want to manifest things that improve our happiness and well-being.”
- “People generally talk about manifestation as the process of using thoughts, feelings, and beliefs to bring something into reality, but given the science behind manifestation, it seems important to also include actions as a key part of the manifestation process.”
- “There actually is science behind the idea of manifestation—that is, turning an idea into a real thing.”
- “Importantly, this research suggests that if we truly believe we can achieve something, we are willing to do the hard work to achieve it. This is in contrast to law-of-attraction style manifestation which suggests that belief alone is enough to bring about manifestation. Ultimately, the science suggests that our beliefs bring about behaviors (and responses from others) that lead to the outcomes we desire.”
Those points echo my remarks on the nature of manifestation. Let’s consider what manifestation involves when the rubber meets the road, as it were.
What is manifestation in actual practice?
The precepts about practical manifestation usually urge you to undertake common-sense efforts. Typically, you begin by defining your goals. This makes sense since otherwise, you don’t have an end state in mind. Next, you visualize how you are going to achieve those goals. This makes sense since you need a plan of action.
While carrying out the plan of action, you are to maintain a generally positive attitude. Believe in what you are doing. Roll with the punches by keeping a stiff upper lip. Don’t let the world wear you down. Your mind and spirit require positivity and recharging.
Generative AI Enters Into Manifestation
Trying to imbue manifestation can be a tall order.
You might be tempted to have others around you aid in your manifesting ways. For example, perhaps you confer with friends or colleagues and ask them to keep your positive thinking charged up. Without their cheerleading, you might allow your manifestation to dribble and ultimately dissipate.
The issue with getting other fellow humans to aid you is that they might not have the time or interest to do so. Furthermore, they might undercut your manifestation efforts. It is easy to rip into the goals of someone else by either being downbeat about their aspirations or by outright ridiculing them. This can be a dagger in the heart of your manifestation.
Turns out there is a way to engage in conversation about manifestation without particularly endangering the manifestation.
What’s that path?
Voila, via the use of modern-day generative AI and LLMs. You can log into any of the popular generative AI apps such as OpenAI ChatGPT or GPT-4o, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or Meta Llama, and proceed to converse with the AI about your manifestation. Easy-peasy.
As an example, I logged into a generative AI app and then pretended that I wanted to start a new business, and wondered how manifestation might be of use.
Here we go.
- My entered prompt: “I am interested in starting a new business. How can manifestation help?”
- Generative AI response: “That’s a great goal! Manifestation is about focusing your thoughts and actions on a specific goal to bring it to life. I will get you underway by providing some manifestation guidance. First, can you describe your business idea?”
- My entered prompt: I want to start a bakery, focusing on healthy, organic desserts.
- Generative AI response: “Wonderful! The next step is to clarify your vision. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine your bakery: What does it look like? Who are your customers? What’s the atmosphere like?”
- My entered prompt: “It’s cozy, with warm lighting and a small seating area. Customers are families and health-conscious individuals. It smells like fresh bread and vanilla.”
- Generative AI response: “That’s a vivid image! Visualization like this helps align your thoughts and feelings with your goal.”
As you can plainly see, the AI opted to immediately take me through the overall steps of the manifestation process.
First, since I had right away given my goal at a top level, the AI wanted to have me consider some more detailed aspects of my envisioned new business. The AI then probed into my overarching vision to get me into a more granular and tangible frame of mind.
Observe that the AI didn’t try to dissuade me from my ambitions. It could have told me that my business idea was lousy or that I was doomed to fail. That’s something a friend or colleague might blurt out.
That being said, this does raise a bit of concern about the everyday use of generative AI. By and large, the AI makers have tuned their AI apps to be relatively upbeat and avoid criticizing users. People tend to like this. The trouble though is that if my business idea was in fact impractical, the AI is unlikely to warn me. You could say that most AI is data-trained to walk you down a primrose path.
For my coverage on why we should be cautious about AI that is tuned this way, along with ways to adjust the AI to be more pointed, see the link here.
AI Conversations Of An Ongoing Kind
I continued my interaction with generative AI.
One side note is that oftentimes people tend to use generative AI on a one-and-done basis. Here’s what that means. Someone asks a question of the AI, gets an answer, and proceeds to log out of the AI. That’s kind of sad and missing the boat use of generative AI.
You see, the beauty and amazing element of generative AI is that you can carry on conversations. Rather than doing a one-and-done, you are more apt to gain value from AI by engaging in an interactive dialogue. I give various prompting tips and recommendations about this activity at the link here.
Let’s see what happened as I continued my manifestation discussion with AI.
- My entered prompt: “What should I do next?”
- Generative AI response: “The next step of manifestation involves identifying how to make your goal actionable. What’s one small step you could take toward making this vision real?”
- My entered prompt: “I could research suppliers for organic ingredients.”
- Generative AI response: “Perfect! Researching suppliers is a practical step that brings you closer to your dream. As you take this step, keep visualizing your bakery and remind yourself why it matters to you.”
The generative AI urged me to come up with at least one small step in pursuit of my new business.
This was a handy suggestion. At times, people get stuck on making progress because they are overwhelmed with the thousand things they will need to do. Per the old saying, a long road to travel begins with a single step.
I then responded to the AI by saying that I could research suppliers. The AI congratulated me and said that was a perfect way to begin.
This brings me back to my prior point that most generative AI apps are going to applaud just about whatever you happen to say. Unless you explicitly prompt the AI to be discerning, it will nearly rubber-stamp most things you enter.
There is another issue with AI doing this.
Will the AI necessarily be correct in what it advises?
Nope.
Don’t assume that AI is somehow perfect in what it does. Modern-day generative AI is known for making errors, including generating falsehoods that are referred to as AI hallucinations (see my coverage about AI hallucinations, including what they are and how to avoid them, at the link here).
AI As Your Persistent Manifestation Cheerleader
I noted that it can be difficult to keep your manifestation going over an extended period. The world will disrupt you. The world will knock you on your heels.
Let’s see how AI can be a manifestation cheerleader.
- My entered prompt: “Okay, I will go ahead and research potential suppliers. But what if I feel discouraged along the way?”
- Generative AI response: “That’s natural to feel discouraged. When that happens, revisit your vision. Remind yourself of the joy your bakery will bring to your customers and the fulfillment it will bring to you. You can also use affirmations, like: ‘I am capable of creating a thriving bakery.’ Come up with a handful of affirmations that work well for your goal.”
- My entered prompt: Okay, I will compose some affirmations. Thanks!”
- Generative AI response: “Remember, manifestation is a combination of mindset, visualization, and consistent effort. I’m here to support you whenever you need guidance.”
The AI not only supported my manifesting ways, but it added a bonus by telling me to consider making use of affirmations. Happy face.
Does the support of generative AI mean that I am on the right track?
I assume you realize that the AI support could be hollow. The AI agrees with me as a result of programmatically being slanted in that direction via the data training that took place. A human would presumably be of their own mind and tell me what they think.
Well, that’s not always the case either. Sometimes people around you are afraid to burst your bubble or just don’t want to be the one to tell the emperor that they have no clothes on. The beauty of AI is that you can overtly tell the AI to be harsher, doing so without ruffling any feathers other than your own.
Manifestation Judgement Via Generative AI
From an AI ethics perspective, an open question is whether AI should play into someone’s manifestations. A person might have the wackiest manifestation ideas, and the AI will give the green light. Concerns too are that people will end up avoiding human feedback since the feedback from AI is heartwarming and agreeable. Gradually, people might withdraw from human interaction and engulf themselves in only AI interaction.
Besides ethical considerations, some ardently say that we need suitable AI laws to prevent people from being taken in by AI or at least that the AI ought to be clearer on warning of how AI works, see my in-depth coverage of legal aspects of AI at the link here.
Getting back to the overall nature of manifestation, I’ll close with a few notable quotes that you might find handy to contemplate.
First, Henry Ford made this important point: “Whether you think you can or can’t, either way, you are right.” That sure seems to be along the lines of positive leading to positive and negative leading to negative.
Lastly, the words of Henry David Thoreau will perhaps be ever-present in your mind as a means of pursuing your goals: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”
You don’t need AI for that, though if you want to use AI cautiously and mindfully, you are manifestly able to consider doing so. That is the real truth.
