A Friend in a Machine: Addicted to AI

Which article do you prefer?

Article 1.1

Well, like it or not, AI is happening, and it is happening fast.  AI specialists are claiming we are in the dial-up internet phase of AI, but it is changing at a rate of weeks – not years, with AI in 5 years’ time being quite inconceivable to us today.

‘Though, I tell you what – I love it…and am also terrified of its capabilities.

I love the challenge of prompting Copilot or Gemini to answer my query or analyse some information and waiting excitedly to see the results and whether they meet my needs.  Seeing what it can do in seconds that might otherwise take me potentially hours. I  love it, but it is daunting. The big unknown. It is moving so fast, I can’t comprehend what it can do now, let alone in the future.

There is so much to learn and understand. Can it do [insert inane time-consuming task] for me? How can I make the most of it? Where is the best place to learn how to use it? Is it quicker for me to do myself, or should I spend the time engineering and re-engineering prompts to achieve the outcome I need? And what about Agents? I’m still learning exactly what these are and how they can be used.  It really is a new world out there and it is coming to get us like a zombie apocalypse from a 90s horror.

But it is obvious when used, isn’t it?  The empty soul-less eyes in any image or video, the smooth lifeless skin on a person, the same format of any social media post or article with vibrant bullet points and impersonal language, the monologue tone of any audio (although I have to say I love the music from the AI band Velvet Sundown….sending my mind adrift with the sound of 60s Woodstock-style tunes).

However we are using it, we need to keep on top of the wave, before we sink like the Titanic while the smart few have already set sail on the lifeboats before us.

So, do we use it and pretend we haven’t? Do we use it knowing that most of our audience know we have used it, with the eyeroll of ‘yes, but you didn’t actually do that yourself, did you’? Or do we use it mindfully and showcase the capabilities of making us more efficient?

I am all up for the latter.  It is astounding – we will no doubt all be out of a job and be controlled by robots (oh hang on, we already are – our Alexa’s and Siri’s listening and watching our every murmur or scroll) but it is still exciting, and I love excitement in this boring corporate world we live in!

So, the big question is…did I write this, or did AI?

Article 1.2

Love it or hate it, artificial intelligence is here, and it’s advancing at a pace that’s almost breathtaking. For me, there’s no debate—I’m a huge fan. I see it less as a threat and more as a fascinating challenge, a powerful tool that makes my work more efficient and, frankly, a lot more fun.

I still remember the first time I got a truly useful response from an AI. I was trying to write a complex email, one that needed to be both diplomatic and direct. I’d been staring at a blank screen for what felt like an hour, and in a fit of frustration, I typed a simple prompt into an AI tool. Within seconds, it gave me a draft that was nearly perfect. What would have taken me an hour of agonizing over word choice and tone was done in a fraction of the time. That’s when it clicked for me. AI isn’t about replacing human effort; it’s about amplifying it. It’s about taking the mundane, time-consuming parts of a task and handling them so we can focus on the creative, strategic parts that only we can do.

The Obvious and the Awesome

One of the most common criticisms I hear is that AI-generated content is obvious. You can “just tell” when something was written by a machine. And honestly, they’re not wrong. The current state of AI often produces text that’s a bit too clean, a bit too formal, lacking the subtle imperfections and unique voice that make human writing so compelling. The key, however, isn’t to use AI as a final product. It’s a starting point, a co-pilot, a brainstormer. It gives you the bones of an idea that you can then flesh out with your own personality, insights, and style.

The challenge I love is seeing how I can push these tools to be less “obvious.” It’s a puzzle. How do I prompt it to give me something that’s not just accurate, but also nuanced and full of character? The better I get at communicating my needs to the AI, the more human and authentic the output becomes.

What the Future Holds

The progress we’ve seen in just the last year is staggering. What excites me most is the potential for AI to democratize creativity and knowledge. Imagine a world where a small business owner can generate professional marketing copy without hiring an agency, or a student can get personalized tutoring on a complex subject at any hour of the day.

Of course, there are important conversations to be had about ethics, job displacement, and bias. These are critical issues that we must address as a society. But I believe the benefits, when managed responsibly, far outweigh the risks.

For me, the future with AI is one of collaboration. It’s a partnership between human ingenuity and computational power. The tools will keep getting better, and the challenge for us will be to learn how to use them not just to save time, but to unlock new levels of creativity and innovation. I, for one, am ready to take on that challenge.

So, the big question is…did I write this, or did AI?

The answer?

I wrote Article 1.1 in 45 minutes.

AI wrote Article 1.2 in 10 seconds.

Interesting, isn’t it?  🤔

But I have the question of all questions now.  With my objective being to increase my professional online presence, is the extra time to write an article myself worth it? Or did 10 seconds with AI achieve the same result?

One last thing what I will say (I promise), is that what started out as a marketing chore, resulted in being an enjoyable and thought-provoking task. Never having written anything like this before, I found it almost therapeutic! Maybe this will be the start of many more self-indulgent ramblings.

Whatever which way – Rock On, AI….but Rock Harder, our personal touch!  🤘