I Was Scared of AI Until I Started Using It as a Creative Tool
A few months ago I was terrified of AI. It was blowing up and everyone was talking about how it could do and write anything, often better than a human. There was (and still is) so much speculation about whether it will take over jobs…like mine. Recently I decided the only way to feel less fear towards AI was to start experimenting with it. And now it is my new favorite tool.
I spend my daytime hours working at home by myself. It is quiet. There is no one to talk to except my dog. But I am the type of creative who needs to brainstorm out loud. I need to talk things through even if the other person isn’t actually saying anything (just ask my husband). Using an AI platform has allowed me to brainstorm content. It has helped me clarify language. It has forced me to identify my brand and also my ideal client well enough that I could then describe it to a robot and have it spit out any sort of actually useful information. It has been so helpful!
Once I shifted my mindset from feeling like AI was going to force me out of a job and instead saw it as a tool so many creative opportunities opened up. And so many time-saving opportunities too! (But that’s for another post.)
Here are some of my favorite ways I’ve used AI recently:
I had a client with an established mission statement she loved and wanted to keep. But we were expanding her content portfolio. I wanted the tone, language, voice, etc. to remain consistent. So I plugged her mission statement into Claude and asked it to give me a chart outlining a profile for my client (tone, voice, keywords, vibe, etc.). This gave me words that I could then use to inspire my work. Words that I’m still circling back to now to make sure everything remains consistent.
Similarly, I had a client whose mission statement and vision statement I had just reworked but I was having a creative block around a tagline. I was able to describe my client and input her mission and vision statement then ask Claude to suggest taglines for me to use. I didn’t love the options but it did spark something and I ended up working past my writer’s block and found one that worked.
I recently used Claude to create a chart that outlined my ideal client’s fears, struggles, and aspirations. I fed it as much information as I possibly could about my ideal client and how I aim to serve them and then asked Claude to capture all of these things in an organized manner. Now I have a chart I can go to when I’m wondering “What should I post on socials today?” or “What should I blog about?” I have concrete examples of what my ideal client wants and what is standing in their way so I can speak directly to them!
*If you’re wondering who Claude is, it is my favorite AI platform. I have been testing out a few of them. Even when I feed them the exact same prompt I have had better luck with the response from Claude. And it is incredible simple to use.
If you, like me, feel a little bit terrified of AI (understandably so) I would challenge you to start experimenting. You do have to remember it is a robot. It cannot create something worth using if you don’t give it good and useful information. The best results I have received have come after I fed it the most specific, high-quality information. Otherwise, the results are pretty generic, the language is flowery, and the content isn’t useful. When I tell it who I want it to act as, what voice I want it to use, things I want it to avoid, who I want it to speak to, and exactly what task I want it to complete it has been an amazing tool.
We dig into using AI as a tool in one of the lessons in my course, The Storytelling Advantage, and I provide some prompts there for you to use as well. If you’re interested you can learn more here or you can send me a message!
Thanks for reading!
With so much love and gratitude,
Am