Embracing the AI Adventure: From Automation Anxiety to Creative Collaboration
Exploring AI, Overcoming Fears, and Finding the Fun in Working Smarter, Not Harder.
If you’re like me, you’re just a tad bit scared of AI. Maybe you’re scared of the unknown or scared of the loss of jobs, or scared of a dark, dystopian future where we’re all dressed in military fatigues and living in tiny cottages with partial roofs. Shit looks bleak in that future.
Since the actors’ and writers’ strikes I have been thinking a lot about AI taking over the industry I’m still working so hard to get a foothold in. Will Julia Roberts’ cloned voice read all the audiobooks? Will CGI actors replace me in the roles I am currently booking such as “housewife without a bra” on Boardwalk Empire? Surely, at this point in its progress, AI actors could utter my two lines, “Oh. I thought you were the grocer.” And, “Take it on the arches!” But, could a CGI actor slam the door in Michael Shanahan’s face with the gusto that I did? Probably not. Side note, Michael Shanahan is, I’m sure, lovely, but I wouldn’t know because he was very busy smoking and not looking me in the eyes before, during, and after our scene.
Fears aside, I’ve been experimenting with AI in part because I don’t want to become one of those old people who refuses to learn new technology and then spend the rest of their lives calling the grandchildren to ask how to get into a driverless Uber. “So it will just pull up in front of the house? No driver at all? Well, that doesn’t sound safe, but if you say it’s okay, Davey…”
Now one of my kids has to have a child named Davey.
To date, I’ve used AI to write show descriptions for podcast episodes, to write ads, and to help ideate on new projects, this essay title may or may not have been written by ChatGPT. You’ll have to buy me several margaritas before I will confirm or deny. Who am I kidding? The title was totally written by a bot because I stink at writing SEO-friendly titles and subtitles.
I’ve also begun using AI for Instagram posts. These posts are hilarious because ChatGPT loves emojis. If you’ve been worried about my recent overuse of ❤️😍👀☀️🌈 at least now you know it’s not me.
The more I experiment with AI, the more I think it falls in line with the philosophy that my dad beat into my head as a child, “Work smarter, not harder.”
I seem to not be alone in the experiment. People are using AI in such unique and interesting ways. My pal Carolyn Cohagan (if you’re not following her, you have to ask yourself, why not) is using AI to write a graphic novel- This Memoir Will Be Written by Robots. She includes some AI image bloopers that make the Royal Family’s recent post look like child’s play.
Chris Hayes had Ben Smith on his podcast “Why is this Happening,” and they chatted about the use of AI in journalism to search for opinion pieces so coverage could be presented of a topic from all perspectives.
A work colleague told me that she uses ChatGPT for family meal planning and believe me you, I ran home, typed in the sentence “Please (because I always say please even to robots) give me meal ideas that include chopped chicken breast, but do not include cooked carrots or peppers.” I thought this prompt was brilliant because I had leftover chicken and my kids hate vegetables. The bot happily spit out ten meal ideas with corresponding grocery lists and directions on how to make the meals. That meal was damn good and something I would never have thought to make.
Is AI a magic bullet? Hell no. It misses directions, and writes pedestrian or embarrassing phrases like “Hold onto your hats!” It also loses my fun and funny tone of voice while writing (or at least the voice that I hope is fun and funny.) I spent some time worrying about that but then realized that all my “hey mama” and “holler back” asides in emails probably don’t help that much in a pitch email.
Where I landing on the use of AI is that it’s a starting point. For this gal who works alone out of her bedroom, AI feels like having an intern who gets things started so I can swoop in and clean things up before shipping them out to the client. I liken it to the lady who organizes my tax receipts before my accountant does his magic. Whatever that magic is. Let’s not look too closely into that.
It may take a herculean effort to change my thinking to incorporate AI. Asking a robot to do my work is not how our generation was raised. But who knows, maybe all this experimentation will lead to a project that finally helps me blow up in the entertainment industry. It could happen.
Still, I need to train my brain to think of new ways to use the technology. It’s often not until someone tells me how they used AI that I realize I could do the same. That is the reason that I am working so hard to find ways to incorporate it into my workflow or creative process now. The hope is that it will become second nature.
Also, I have to figure out the prompts. It seems like how one asks for a thing from AI is as important as the asking itself. In the beginning, I spent more time trying to figure out the command than the task would have taken to do by itself. And there are moments where adjusting my prompts feels like trying to solve Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, and Letter Boxed all at the same time.
I have no idea how this is all going to shake out. Will robots kill us in our sleep? Perhaps. Until then, my hope is they make life a little bit easier and maybe more creative. So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to wrap this story up so I can check out that software the algorithm keeps serving me that’s guaranteed to organize my daily tasks and make me more efficient!
As my dad used to say, if ya’ can’t beat ‘em, might as well join ‘em.