Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Welcome to Prompting Curiosity, a podcast for the AI curious. No coding background required. I'm your host, Dr. Shantae Cofield, also known as the Maestro, and I created this show to explore what these AI tools actually are. Really, though, are the files in the computer, how to use them, and what they might mean for how we think, work, create, and move through life. Whether you're skeptical, intrigued, or already experimenting, you're in the right place. All that I ask is that you stay curious. All right, let's get into it.
[00:00:38] Hello, hello, hello, my curious people, and welcome to episode 49. We're almost at 50 of, uh, prompting Curiosity. I am your grateful host, the Maestro, and today I am coming to you with a simple, simple, simple ask.
[00:00:53] Stop asking AI to write for you, y'. All. I have been doing a ton of copywriting for folks for their websites, uh, namely some email stuff as well.
[00:01:04] And they tell me that they used AI to make it. Right. No one's trying to hide the fact you, uh, know they used AI And I appreciate the transparency. But what it generates, what AI generates is so bad, right? I'm a realist. I know you're going to use it despite me, like, being like, please don't use it. Right. I understand the appeal of it. I understand the dopamine hits, like, what might it generate? It is very Vegas. Like, you're pulling that slot machine. Might I win? Might I win? Might I win? What's it going to say this time?
[00:01:30] I understand the relief of getting it, quote, unquote, done quickly. Right? Getting this thing written quickly.
[00:01:36] But I promise you what it generates is not good. And I'm going to get into what I mean by quote, unquote good in a second.
[00:01:45] And I'm going to jump right into right now how I suggest you do use it, because I know you're still going to use it despite my plea. Right? So, suggested way of using A.I. uh, use it for ideas, use it for outlines, use it for talking topics, use it for titles. I love going back and forth with AI uh, about and for titles. And oftentimes the first thing that I come up with for an outline is the title.
[00:02:11] Use it to help organize your thoughts.
[00:02:13] You could even go so far as to use it to guide you as to what the main point of a paragraph or a section of a website should be.
[00:02:24] Right. Um, but just having it generate the writing, just having it generate the copy is bad because the writing that it generates is bad.
[00:02:31] Yes. I could talk about the importance and the value of using your own brain, but I'M not really sure how much that will actually move anyone. Not sure people care because you know it. And you know, you're like, yeah, I know, I know, I know, right? But the reality is the outcome that you are asking it for to produce that outcome is bad. I.
[00:02:49] So what makes AI writing bad? It doesn't say anything, right? On first pass. AI writing sounds and it reads very well, right? But if you actually sit with the copy and ask, what is this saying?
[00:03:05] You will see that it doesn't hold up. It's giving veneer, right? Uh, it appears solid, it appears real, but underneath hollow, underneath nothingness.
[00:03:15] Okay, slight tangent, but this is also part of the problem. When you ask AI to generate a business proposal or anything like that for you, it uses all the right words. It puts them in an order that reads well. And because you know the feeling you're trying to capture, because you're excited about this thing, you think it's good, and then you read it to me and I'm like, what is this saying?
[00:03:37] What. But what is it?
[00:03:38] Right? It's giving LinkedIn post. It's a whole lot of words that don't actually say anything. Right? I feel like this is the part of the episode where, you know, for whatever reason I defend the merits of AI and say that it's not bad and it has value, namely because like, it does.
[00:03:57] Like it is very easy to, on this technology and for, you know, uh, I'm here for the smoke that it catches and I'm here for the, the smoke that, you know, ideally the, the, the companies, the corporations should be catching for sure.
[00:04:12] But the actual like, technology itself is very, very good, but not when it comes to client facing. Copy.
[00:04:21] Right?
[00:04:22] And, and one of the words that I use there is, uh, these feelings, right? I said I feel like this is the part, right? I feel like as I was writing this outline out, I'm like, I feel like this is the part. It's just like in my body, feels like right now I should say something else. And I intentionally use that word because that is a big thing that AI is missing. It cannot bring that to writing. It does not have feelings. And that is part of what makes the output so bad.
[00:04:49] Uh, what AI produces is based on complex mathematical computations that determine which word is statistically m most likely to come next or statistically should come next in a sentence based on everything that that model has been previously trained on.
[00:05:09] AI doesn't have past experiences to draw from. It doesn't have past relationships to learn from. It doesn't have the ability, ability to stop and think about how something will be received.
[00:05:19] It's just doing math. It's not sentient, maybe I should say yet. But as it stands, it's not sentient. It is just doing math.
[00:05:27] Right. And, and so admittedly, when I talk about it doesn't have the ability to stop and think about how something will be received. Perhaps, as I said that you were like, I know a lot of humans that can't do that either, that are sorely lacking in that department. You are right.
[00:05:41] You are right. And that EQ piece, that's a glaring omission when it comes to AI writing. And it's a, it's a, it is a problem if, if you know a person doesn't have that as well and you can feel it in the writing.
[00:05:53] Right. Again, because I know you're going to use AI. I'm not a dummy. My suggestion is instead of having it, just write everything for you. Have a discussion with it about what your goal is for whatever you're creating, what people might be feeling. Go back and forth. Maybe you struggle to understand and predict what people might be feeling, and maybe you don't even think about what you would like people to feel with your writing.
[00:06:20] Have that discussion. If you want to use AI, have that discussion. Don't ask it to write things for you.
[00:06:26] Right. The biggest thing here, though, is if you are going to use AI, don't just take what it says as gospel.
[00:06:33] Right. It is simply, in my opinion, when you're using AI, it's about having the discussion with AI and then asking yourself, does this make sense? Do I agree?
[00:06:43] Right. You still have to use your brain.
[00:06:46] Right. I really do think that there's tremendous value in using AI as a thought partner. But for the love, please stop using it as a ghostwriter.
[00:06:57] Right. I write a lot for the various parts of my business.
[00:07:00] And if you've been using AI a ton, uh, you know, for your writing and you're wanting to wean yourself off, one of the best things you can do is simply write more. And I'm saying that I, you know, began that sentence with I write a lot because that's the best antidote. That's why I can see that this isn't saying anything because I write so much.
[00:07:20] Right. The best thing you can do to wean yourself off, write more.
[00:07:25] Don't use AI, just use your brain. Again, I understand the appeal of using AI and having a blank page turn into a finished email, which is the push of a button.
[00:07:34] I get it. But it's bad. What it generates is bad, right? Writing is a skill. Communication is a skill. Written communication is a skill. And just like with any other skill, the more you practice it, the better you can get at it.
[00:07:46] That's why I'm going to m. Encourage you to do it More real talk.
[00:07:52] I do believe that people's acceptance of AI is going to continue to grow, right? The example that I have used in the past is AI generated music, right? That shit goes viral.
[00:08:02] Most recently is that Puerto Rico song. And that is catchy as, right?
[00:08:07] And I've literally seen zero negative comments about it on social media. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it or AI, Search it, whatever you want. Just put in the Puerto Rico song AI. You'll find videos about it.
[00:08:19] And you know, like I just said, I. I've seen no negative comments about it, but I, I do see plenty of negative comments about AI in general. So I don't think that, you know, the fact that I'm not seeing negative comments about the songs because I'm in some like, you know, AI positive silo because I see plenty of people and hating on AI Rightfully so. Like, I'm not here to be like, oh, you should love it. Like, I'm here for, for all of it, right? But I bring this point up, uh, to make the point that AI is not going anywhere, right? And I do believe that people are going to accept AI in more places, in more spaces. But I think we are super far away from people trusting something when AI is the first interaction.
[00:09:05] Uh, so if you're using AI for these client facing tasks, especially for copy, that is supposed to, you know, to be trust building. So emails, websites, captions, things like that, it is, in my opinion, a terrible business move. Conversely, because folks are doing this nonsense, you have a big opportunity right now to separate yourself by just being a human and writing yourself.
[00:09:29] Look at that.
[00:09:31] All right, so I know that this episode is not the traditional, you know, AI coverage that I've done in other episodes.
[00:09:37] But, um, that's also why I named this podcast what I did.
[00:09:41] I Prompting curiosity and just basically to allow for all different types of AI related conversations. And, and you know, this episode is definitely my world's colliding, uh, you know, my online business stuff and these AI adventures.
[00:09:55] And I'm just seeing so much AI generated copy, just so much. And I genuinely want to put out that if you are using AI a ton, please stop asking AI to write for you, please. Okay, shorter episode because it's a simple ask last, uh, things last. How I used AI this week, each episode. If you're new here, maybe you don't know this, but each episode I share a quick example of how I used AI this, this week, that week, the past week, how I've been using AI. So this week I used AI to write a welcome email for me. Just kidding. No, I didn't. So this week I used AI to help me fix our shed door. If you follow me on Instagram, you perhaps saw in my stories the shed shed shenanigans. The door is up, folks. The door is up. It take took two Saturdays to. To do it. Um, but the door's up. But I asked my guy, Claude, my French, uh, assistant. I asked it about the different types of hardware, screw types, the different types of wood. Um, I asked, you know, what would rust and what wouldn't. I basically went through my thinking, my plan, and sometimes I didn't know what, like, if that hardware existed. And I was like, I want to secure it by just going all the way through the. The wood that it uses is, like, not great. I don't want to do a only piece of wood. So I was like, hey, I have an idea. I'm gonna get a bigger hinges. Like, what would that. What size is appropriate, uh, relative to the door size? Uh, and I was like, I want to put the bolt all the way through the door. I think that would provide the most structural stability. Is this true? Does this make sense?
[00:11:29] I, um, asked just like, what should I know before getting started? What tool would be best for the task? And my favorite question, are you sure about that? I ask that question all the time. And yes, I absolutely pair my AI inquiries with YouTube University.
[00:11:43] Um, but I have found, especially with this DIY stuff, which I love, AI is such a handy pun intended helper.
[00:11:54] Okay, that, my friends, is all for today. Hopefully you found this episode helpful, despite me basically yelling at you to not use AI to write for you. Uh, and if you did find it helpful, maybe consider sharing it with someone who you know is using AI to write all their copy. You don't have to call them out. I can call them out. I'll do it for you. All right. Don't forget, I have a companion newsletter and blog, the Curious Companion, that drops every Thursday. That is basically the podcast episode in text format. And by basically, I mean exactly. So if you prefer to read or you just want a written record of the things, join the newsletter fam. Or check out the blog, you can head to prompting curiosity, dot com Forward slash newsletter. Or you can just check out the link in the show notes. Both the newsletter and the blog are there.
[00:12:42] All right. As always, my friends. Endlessly, endlessly one more time. Endlessly appreciative for every single one of you. Until we chat again next Thursday, stay curious.
