Unlock the secrets to supercharging your creativity and productivity by embracing the power of AI—just like my brother and I did.
Embracing AI for Creativity: How My Skeptical Brother Found Inspiration
My younger brother is a comic. For as long as artificial intelligence has been around, he has refused it, reluctant to embrace this new technology. He has always preferred the tangible over the digital—handwritten notes and brainstorming sessions. But yesterday, he turned a corner after I asked GPT to assist him with a short film he’s producing in Thailand. He had hit a creative block, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to see if AI could help him.
As he read through the notes GPT generated, he was stunned by the quality. It wasn’t just that the suggestions were insightful; they were spot-on, addressing exactly the challenges he was facing in his script. To push his curiosity even further, I asked GPT to rewrite the script as if Woody Allen had penned it. The result was impressive. It captured Allen’s quirky, neurotic tone and dry wit. My brother, who had been a staunch AI skeptic, was now spending hours working on the advice GPT had provided him. Without GPT, he would have found it much more difficult to understand where to improve.
Understanding AI: The Dynamic Encyclopedia That Never Sleeps
At one point during our conversation, my brother turned to me and asked, “How does it know all of this?” I explained that AI doesn’t “know” anything in the way humans understand knowledge. Instead, it’s more like a vast, dynamic encyclopedia that responds to prompts. It doesn’t have opinions, beliefs, or experiences, but it is designed to simulate understanding by processing enormous amounts of data. What it offers is a reflection of what’s out there—an aggregation of knowledge and information pulled together and synthesized in real time. It’s like having a brainstorming partner that never tires and always has a fresh take. The most impressive part is that AI almost always comes up with an answer in an incredibly short amount of time, often faster than anyone would believe possible.
Transforming My Writing Process: Leveraging AI for Editing and Refinement
For me, AI has become the best partner I’ve ever had in my work. I use it to edit my text and articles, which has significantly improved my writing process. Before discovering AI, editing was always a time-consuming, painstaking task. Now, it feels like I have a world-class editor on call 24/7.
My editing prompt is rather long and complex by design, and it handles a range of functions, like tightening up my prose, correcting grammar, enhancing flow, and ensuring the tone is consistent with my brand. Getting the final prompt right required a lot of iteration and refining, and interestingly, I used GPT to improve the prompt as I was developing it.
Crafting Custom Prompts: A Tailored Approach to Content Improvement
But I don’t stop with one editing prompt. I have another prompt designed to critique my text, offering suggestions rather than making edits. This is an important distinction because it encourages me to think more critically about my work. It’s like having a trusted advisor who isn’t afraid to point out areas for improvement. I’ve also developed a series of prompts to mimic the style of various editors whose work I respect. This gives me a nuanced way to approach revisions, as each editor’s approach offers a slightly different perspective.
Protecting Creative Integrity: Why I Draw the Line on AI-Generated Content
That said, I never allow AI to write my original text. I’m very clear about this line. Even my editing prompts tell AI to avoid rewriting. I want to improve my work, not replace it. While I leverage AI to assist, refine, and critique, the actual writing—the words that flow from the initial idea to the finished piece—is mine alone. This is partly because I value the creative process, but there’s also a practical reason: copyright. Only humans can hold a copyright on written material, and I want to ensure that everything I create is legally mine.
I’m aware of people who use AI to write books, caring little about ownership or originality. Instead of considering what they want to say and why, they prompt AI to generate however many words of content. After making a few tweaks, they pass it off as their own. They see these books as a means to an end, using them to acquire contacts and generate leads for their business. For me, that approach dilutes the authenticity of writing, turning it into something transactional rather than meaningful. It’s impossible to connect with readers when you have little connection to the words in “your” book. When you use AI to do the hard work, you cannot be part of a conversation in a meaningful way.
Practical AI Tools for Research: Building a Prompt Library for Competitive Edge
Most of my prompt library is geared toward practical and tactical research. In my line of work, I often need to get up to speed quickly on a new industry or sector. This is where AI shines. For example, I have prompts that provide me with 15 headwinds, specific challenges and problems, —and 15 tailwinds, available opportunities and positive trends, for a particular industry. This helps me understand the obstacles and the potential for growth in a client’s market.
Beyond that, I have a prompt that dives into the five largest companies within a given industry, detailing their initiatives, risks, and priorities. This insight is invaluable when trying to understand where a market is heading and how to position a client to take advantage of emerging trends. AI has allowed me to accelerate my research process so I can quickly gather information that would have taken days or even weeks to compile manually.
Unlocking Efficiency: How AI Tools Enhance Strategic Thinking and Save Time
Having a large prompt library returns time for me to use on my priorities. If you want to be more efficient and effective in your work and sharpen your strategic thinking, learn how to use AI and invest in developing reliable prompts. Access to a broad range of topics and information helps me identify new subjects and patterns that I might have missed using only traditional methods. If you’ve ever dreamed of having a team dedicated to research, AI can fill that gap for $20 a month. Considering the amount of power and insights I can leverage to create value for my clients, it’s a bargain.
