This post is inspired by Derek Siver's AI page, which he credits to Damola Morenikeji

I believe AI can contribute to creative work, but not replace it. Even if/when AI surpasses human capabilities, I will still create art through TAV. I pursue writing and photography and podcasting because of how it makes me feel, and because it's my way to contribute to the universe.

As of November 2024:

I do use AI in my creative workflows. Like spell check for writing, my tripod for photography, or my microphone for podcasts, AI is a tool to be leveraged when creating something new, something that is my own. Anyone could use spellcheck or my tripod or microphone to write, photograph or talk—but it wouldn't be my work.

How I use AI for my writing

Every piece of writing on this site is my own. I do not use AI to write copy.

I do use AI to help me research. I will often feed questions to Claude or ChatGPT instead of Google, because the results seem to be better. In this way, LLM's serve as basic search engines and databases.

I use AI to critique my writing, much as I would ask my seventh grade English teacher to evaluate my work. Here’s the prompt I often use:

“You are a blog critic and expert writer. Review this writing so you can help me make it better. Frist summarize the piece into a few bullet points. Then critique the piece, telling me what the piece does well and how it can be improved. Provide counterarguments to the main points."

Sometimes when I've finished a first-round free write and need help formalizing my idea, I'll use some variation of:

"Help me take all this writing to create a blog post. Include an outline of what the blog post should look like based on this initial writing.”

I have occasionally used AI to write meta descriptions for individual blog post pages, and I see this as an LLM helping a database categorize content on the internet.

How I use AI for my photography

Every photograph on this site is my own. I do not use AI to generate or significantly alter images.

I primarily use Adobe Lightroom to edit my photography. This platform has many AI features, and I regularly use “Presets” and “Erase.”

When I use AI to fine-tune an image, I seek to best represent what I see and experience when taking the photo. I might alleviate a whitewashed sky or erase a minor obtrusive feature of a photograph—but I do not intentionally embellish colors or erase prominent features.

I always strive to polish my images so they resemble the scene I witnessed while shooting. Any editing is meant to clarify the reality I experienced, not to embellish or create one.

How I use AI for podcasting

I use AI to create transcripts of recordings. I always review the transcripts and fix any errors or inconsistencies.

This is how I use AI, which I deem a practical tool when used thoughtfully. I will maintain this page as things continue to change, but my art and views on this site will always be my own. Because TAV is my contribution to this world.