The Right Way to Use AI
At least for now
Hi friend,
How are you? I hope your week went well.
Of course, AI is one of the hot topics these days, as it affects so many fields.
Visual storytelling is no different.
Do you use it? Why? How do you use it?
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Unlike a genie, where you can ask only 3 wishes, with AI, you naturally have no limit.
Beyond the core use cases - copywriting and visualizing - there are many other use cases stemming from personal challenges you come across.
I’ve been using AI for research, word-smithing, AI-generated images or videos, tech support, and tracking news.
Next, I plan to test AI’s coding or, as it’s called now, “Vibecoding” - no programming skills required.
In case you wonder, the writing of this newsletter is completely AI-free, as the green badge indicates below.
It means you read my thoughts in their natural state, occasionally rough on edges but true to my intents. I hope it’s coming across.
For me, writing you every week is like a regular visit to a “creative gym” to keep my brain working before we outsource too much to AI.
Not to mention, it feels great sharing. :)
Let’s dig deeper.
Track News
If you’re on the ChatGPT Plus package, click on the pulldown menu of the LLM models, and you’ll find GPT-4o with scheduled tasks - BETA.
There, you can give the chatbot a weekly task to track news in your particular field and even specify channels and audiences.
It’s the AI answer to Google Alerts.
This feature is naturally good for any other recurring tasks beyond news.
Research
Another useful tool is Deep Research.
For a client, I needed to find the best email marketing tool that would integrate with Wix Premium and HubSpot Sales. The bot got back with a bunch of criteria questions - like price, number of contacts, features, and integration type - and then went to work.
Instead of doing this work manually, checking out tens of websites and throwing findings in a Google Sheet, the whole process is done for you.
All you need to do is validate the recommendations.
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Technical Support
You’d be surprised, but AI can give you an incredible shortcut when you face a technical problem.
Yesterday, I noticed my website didn’t load up on my phone but was fine on the desktop. Crazy, right?
Instead of calling the hosting company and wasting time explaining to the rep what I needed after a long authentication process, I simply asked.
It examined the problem and offered several solutions; one of them was to disconnect and reconnect back to my wifi network, which did the trick.
Custom GPT
Another great use case is to create a Custom GPT using your data.
I created a Visual Storytelling Advisor. I trained the chatbot with my articles, presentations, websites, videos, VSI’s brand voice, narrative, and other assets.
I now have a “quasi-extension of my brain” where I can consult about visual storytelling ideas I’m exploring or solutions I want to coat with my brand philosophy.
Role Playing
I start by describing the role I want the AI to play, its personality, the task, and the audience it is for.
For example, I used the chatbot on voice mode as a Spanish instructor to help me practice basic conversation and grammar.
As a live Spanish-English translator when communicating with my gardener.
Other use cases I haven’t tried:
AI as your ideal customer and practicing your elevator pitch. You can experiment with a specific sector, personalities, and end goals you’re after.
Hiring manager for job interviews, a character from a story you develop you want to further enhance - and the list goes on…
The right way to use AI
In a recent article in the Economist, I came across an insight I believe is true.
Experience = higher value.
Augmented AI means that human judgment and AI work together to accomplish a task.
Yet, if you just entered the job market and are looking for shortcuts, you could settle for the first answer you get and miss problem areas.
The more experienced you are in your field, the higher value you’ll generate.
Why?
Like a seasoned choreographer who knows what the end goal should look like, you ask the right questions, constantly tweak responses, and leverage the result for maximum impact.
As a visual storyteller, to get the most value from AI, bring your vision from home, key ingredients you want to convey, and a critical eye to AI’s outputs.
Beware, though, once your productivity goes up, you may find yourself deeper in the rabbit hole trying new things or over-polishing.
If you’re not an active contributor and blindly rely on AI, beyond stepping into the hallucination twilight zone, you’ll also miss the fun in solving ambiguous challenges.
Lastly, the AI rising tide will raise all boats of inexperienced and experienced users.
Therefore a critical eye will be more important than ever because quality will dramatically increase.
Later, we’ll likely all have AI agents serving as gatekeepers filtering out the noise…
How are you using AI? Feel free to drop your favorite use cases below.
See you next time!
Best,
- Shlomi
Shlomi Ron
Chief Storytelling Officer
shlomi@visualstorytell.com
Visual Storytelling Institute
story > visual > emotion > experience
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