The “AI Revolution” is upon us, says former U.S. diplomat, psychologist, and global strategist Dr. Donald Kilburg, who visited SLU-Madrid on Oct. 29 to discuss his newly published book, “AI Use Cases for Diplomats,” an event sponsored by the psychology and political science departments.
Kilburg spent 21 years in the U.S. Foreign Service before retiring, largely in the Public Diplomacy (PD) section, specializing in strategic engagement with foreign publics. Separate from the traditional conception of government-to-government diplomacy, his work in PD helped promote the credibility of American foreign policy and shaped global attitudes toward the U.S.
“AI can magnify diplomacy, but only authenticity gives it meaning—a truth as valid today as it will be a thousand years from now.”
The quote, written by Kilburg, prefaces his work, which goes on to discuss the utility of AI in applied diplomatic settings.
From the Dominican Republic to Kazakhstan, Kilburg’s PD role controlled the “image projection” of the U.S. via global summits, media engagement, and visits by sitting U.S. presidents. In fact, he acted as the Press Control Officer when Michelle Obama visited the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China. Kilburg escorted Obama to the Great Wall, a symbol of China’s rich history, where journalists were waiting to document her presence—a strategy for gaining the respect of the local population.
However, he emphasized that “no job was too small” for him, taking on the occasional odd role, including luggage handler.
Now, in the age of AI, Kilburg has learned to utilize the technology to ease his workload in both his professional and personal lives, and his message was clear: everyone should be doing the same.
Students concerned about the AI boom pointed to “cognitive offloading”—the delegation of mental tasks to external tools —and its effects on critical thinking. According to the Center for Strategic Corporate Foresight and Sustainability, there is a direct correlation between the frequent use of AI and decreased analytical thinking, signaling a likely future where humans depend on AI for everyday tasks.
While Kilburg acknowledged the real possibility of human dependence, he underscored the importance of using AI intentionally rather than avoiding it altogether, which could result in obsolescence in the workplace.
“AI won’t take your job, but someone who knows how to use AI will,” he said. “You really need to master AI before it masters you.”
He then introduced the idea of “supervising” AI as a “cognitive enhancer.” That is, AI should not be leading a project, but should instead amplify the process and results.
Custom GPTs, or AI models trained to perform specific tasks based on particular datasets or instructions, are Kilburg’s main strategy for effectively using AI. With custom GPTs built for topics from Business & Investment to Psychology to Self-Help, the “walled-off” knowledge allows him to “dynamically query” chatbots rather than manually reading through extensive archives of information.
As an example, Kilburg presented one of his custom-made GPTs, titled “AI Use Cases for Diplomacy.” Demonstrating the voice assistant feature, he asked how diplomats can use AI to enhance diplomatic outcomes. The cheery, female voice responded with advice on analyzing information, real-time language translation, and bridging cultural gaps—however, it ended by noting that AI should only be used as a tool, as human judgment is not replicable by technology.
When questioned on whether or not he used AI to write “AI Use Cases For Diplomacy,” Kilburg said it would have been “disingenuous” if he did not. Both he and his publisher agreed he couldn’t advocate for its use without openly using it himself.
Accordingly, in the first few pages of his book, Kilburg overtly notes his use of AIs, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, in the writing process. The tools served as writing assistants, thought partners, and editors.
Still, in the book, Kilburg writes that an equilibrium must be struck.
“My experience came with careful consideration about where to draw the lines, particularly in balancing innovation with tradition, efficiency with deliberation, and technological capability with my own human judgment. Did I always succeed? Probably not.”
