AI - How do you use it?

When to Use AI (Best Practices)

• Brainstorming & Drafting: Use for creative ideas, generating outlines, or overcoming blank-page syndrome.
• Summarizing & Analysis: Use for rapidly digesting long documents or extracting data insights.
• Routine Tasks: Automate repetitive, low-stakes tasks to free up time for complex work.
• Learning & Coding: Use as a tutor or to troubleshoot tech problems and generate code snippets.

When to Avoid AI (Risks)

• High-Stakes Decisions: Avoid relying on AI for, legal, medical, or financial advice without expert human oversight.
• Deep Creative Work: AI lacks true innovation and human experience, often producing formulaic output.
• Deep Learning Tasks: Using AI to skip difficult, necessary learning processes can weaken your own skills.
• Sensitive Data: Be careful with confidential data, as some models may use your inputs for training.

Tips for Effective Usage

• Act as Curator: Treat AI as a junior assistant; you must check, edit, and verify all output, as models can hallucinate.
• Use for Variance: Ask for multiple, vastly different solutions (e.g., "give me 15 ways to write this") to break out of limited thinking.
• Select the Right Tool: Use more powerful models (like Claude 3.5 Sonnet, GPT-4o, or Gemini 1.5 Pro) for serious work.