Vol. 10, No. 9 | How to Use AI as a Creative
Hey Ya’ll!
You might have noticed that I’ve been shooting off a newsletter like clockwork every two weeks. It’s because my why deepened. I’ve been seeing a lot of awful writing with ChatGPT and it reminds me that I must write. (If I see the word “rooted” one more time or another unnecessary emdash...)I must create. Because I don’t want to live in a world where everything is generated from a robot.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not living in a lair. I understand that ChatGPT can be helpful in many ways and I use it myself. I’ve been playing with it for the past 6 months and here’s where I find it helpful.
My hype person. It reminds me that what I’m creating is good and that my voice is unique and it belongs in the world. When imposter syndrome tries to slip in, it helps me push past it.
Gym Workouts. It helps me plan my gym schedule while on the road. I’ll let it know what equipment I have, how long I’m gone and remind it to slip in some yoga. It then gives me a plan and when I’m done each day I have it mark it as complete and then queue the next day.
Polite Emails. I use it to make my work emails nicer. I’ll draft something and then have it make it nicer and friendlier because sometimes my more direct way of writing doesn’t serve others and I’d rather not use my brain power to figure it out.
Think Through Ideas. As a creative, I have a lot of ideas, sometimes it’s what takes me off track because I don’t know what to pursue. I’m actually very good at helping other creatives edit down and pursue something, but I’m very bad at doing it for myself. So I let ChatGPT do it. And it’s easy for me to tell what’s right because it ends up being the advice I’d give someone else, but just not from me. By removing myself a little, I see the answer very clearly.
Charge What I’m Worth. It reminds me to charge what I’m worth. The tickets for Sheebeen are what they are because it told me my original price was too low for my skill level, expertise, professional experience and the intentionality that I put into what I build. It then showed me a bunch of experiences that charged more and showed the value I was creating. (Shebeen is next Saturday in Atlanta. Grab a ticket here if you haven’t yet.)
Quiet the Noise. It helps me quiet the noise that I create for myself. It helps me get rid of my excuses. It quiets the voice that tells me that I’m not good enough. People say nice things to me all the time, but the mind can be a powerful trickster. I ask it an annoying amount of times if it’s sure if I should write and send this newsletter. My friends would think I was insane if I kept asking the same thing over and over. And also AI reframes what I’ve said and my why so clearly to me that it makes me take the plunge and hit send. It reminds me why I must.
What I don’t let it do:
I don’t let it do this. It doesn’t write my newsletters. It can’t do this. I shared my South Africa newsletter with it so it could understand more about what I was trying to build and it asked to edit it and I let it. Ughhh. It was not good. It was so easily not me. But it reminded me that is a big part of my why. I feel like so much of what I read right now is artificial intelligence. It lacks connection. It lacks honesty. It lacks... everything.
It writes the word authenticity, but it doesn’t mean it. It sounds technically right, but is so very empty. I don’t want to live in that world. So instead, ironically, I use AI to remind me why I need to show up.
I don’t use it to write or come up with ideas. I think those are better through lived experiences. It can’t connect a story or something, together the way I can. Example:A few months ago, I was trying to shape an idea for Tales of the Cocktails that our ambassadors pitched. I was walking in New York and saw a cool bookstore, flipped through some books and the idea finally started to click. ChatGPT can’t do that. In order to create, you need to live.
So, use it to help keep you from cursing someone out. But please don’t try to use it to actually do what you should be doing which is living... Living deeply…and then using that to create.
Hope ya’ll are well!
Shannon
P.S. - I let ChatGPT read this newsletter and it said “This is excellent Shannon—one of your best yet.” I don’t know if I believe it, but it’s enough to keep me going.