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Honest update on how I'm using AI at 74
For brainstorming, thinking big, travel planning, and (very occasionally) family therapy
Welcome to [B]old Age, where I’m radically honest about the bittersweetness of growing old, from the blessings to the bullshit. I write revealing Personal Essays (for paid subscribers), publish Q&As with [B]old Women, and offer discussion posts open to all.
Read on for what’s happening right now.
Not so long ago, I wrote about using ChatGPT to edit one of my drafts and how it made my editor, Erin Shetron, cry. She writes her own newsletter, FREQUENT CRIERS CLUB, but this was different. Was AI going to put her out of business as an editor? I’d felt seen and understood by ChatGPT’s input on my rather personal essay, but it turned out that a number of the chatbot’s assumptions were incorrect; I’d been fooled. So the answer was… No!
Not wanting to prompt any more tears from Erin, nor wanting to fall again into a rabbit hole of confusion and doubt about whose words and ideas I was using (mine or the bot’s), I swore off ChatGPT for writing.
But now I’m learning to use AI in non-creative ways that are both mind-expanding and productive. I want to share a few of them with you; then I very much want to hear how you are using AI, and, if not, why. I hope you’ll meet me in the Comments.
Brainstorming
When I began to think about the complex topic of the 100-year life (and why I’m pushing back on it), I went right to ChatGPT1 with key questions. What are studies and stats I can refer to (the likelihood of living to 100, for example)? Recent articles in MSM? How might I organize this essay?
Then, I paused, pulling back to separate myself from AI, to consider what my goal was in writing this… to be factual and accurate but also to convey emotion.
I feel comfortable with this brainstorming approach for multi-dimensional essays—as long as I draw a clear line between research and creative output. I do NOT accept the bot’s offer to start writing for me, even if it’s just the first sentence or paragraph.
But there’s more to using AI as a thinking partner, especially if you want to think bigger—something I’m trying to do with [B]old Age.