Smart Tools, Confident Mistakes: Why AI is the perfect creative partner (until it tries to buy pizza).
The Joy and Hindrance of AI – It Is Growing
By now, everyone has used AI. Whether it is for organizing your day, drafting emails, or editing, it is both a joy and a pain. But the joys are quickly knocking out the pains.
I am not entirely sure what “age” AI is right now. Is it an infant, a toddler, a tween, or a teen? It’s definitely not a senior citizen. Depending on what you’re using it for, it could be anywhere from a newborn to a young adult.
How It Helps Your Creative Process
Let’s start with the joy.
Most of us who write—be it for academic, business, or creative needs—remember the old-school brainstorms. We’d sit in a conference room, lay out what we wanted to say, map out the bullet points, and then add the meat to the bones.
These days, many of us are sitting in our kitchens, living rooms, or, if you’re lucky, on a beach typing away. Sometimes we jump on a Zoom call to brainstorm, but most of the time we are completely on our own.
AI is a great partner. When I say partner, I mean just that. All the words in my pieces are my own, but AI steps in to proofread. It is incredibly hard to proof your own work; your brain automatically skips over your own mistakes. AI smooths things out, suggests alternative phrasing, and gives you ideas to consider. You can take its suggestions, or leave them.
It also excels at simple, everyday tasks. For example, Tostitos jars are always a pain to open. The vacuum-sealed metal lid is often way too tight. I asked AI for help, and it gave me six different ideas for breaking the seal. I tried two of them.
Seal broken. Chips dipped. Success.
Where It Gets Things Wrong
Of course, it isn’t perfect. It still suffers from “hallucinations” and confidently states falsehoods.
- The Pizza Place: I was checking the online menu for my favorite pizza place (where I had eaten a few days earlier). AI insisted that, depending on which line you wait on, it is a cash-only establishment. I told the AI I had personally tapped my phone and swiped plastic on that exact line many times. The AI immediately backtracked: “I stand corrected. You’re right.”
- The Baseball Timeline: Another time, I was writing a sports piece during the postseason when the Yankees were playing (and thankfully crushing) Boston. I was drafting this before Game 3 against Tampa, praying for a miraculous comeback. The AI insisted that the other games happening at the same time were already finished. They weren’t.
When I explained exactly where its timeline went wrong, it noted I was correct and apologized. I love how the developers are making it feel so human.
The Bottom Line
AI is a fantastic tool, and frankly, we need it. But as it grows from a toddler into an adult, we need to monitor exactly how we use it and always double-check its facts.
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