My Favorite AI Tools for Expanding Your Mind
Are you worried that AI will replace creativity?
Don't!
In my opinion, there's little need to fear AI. In fact, it should be embraced for its potential to elevate human creativity. When used strategically, AI acts as an extension of our capabilities, automating tedious tasks and analyzing data at a scale that's impossible for humans.
AI frees us and our minds to focus on creative and strategic endeavors. It is your collaborator, offering new perspectives and ideas that can inspire innovation. By viewing AI as a tool rather than a threat, we unlock its potential to significantly enhance our creativity and push the boundaries of what's possible. In fact, AI applications in design, music, and content creation have already demonstrated their capability to foster creativity, enabling personalized experiences and solving complex problems with inventive solutions.
AI helps me "fill in the blanks."
The initial spark of creativity typically starts with me, though I sometimes use AI to provide a key insight or surface something that teases my curiosity. The main thread always starts with me, the human being at the other end of the keyboard. As part of the creative process, AI doesn't replace it; it allows humans to explore and expand an idea far more quickly.
People occassionaly ask me, how do I have time to run a company and still write as frequently as I do? The answer is simple: I use AI as an unimaginable productivity tool. What would have been an impossible time commitment a few years ago now takes minutes per day. AI doesn’t replace creative thinking; it amplifies and accelerates it!
What tools do I use?
I've been fascinated by and continue to use various well-known tools, including OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and many others. If you've never used Claude—check it out. It has a distinct style that is very different from ChatGPT and often better suited for creative writing. These tools are advancing and evolving regularly, so I tend to cycle between several to stay abreast of the changes.
Stretching my engineering legs, I'm also regularly exploring tools like OpenAI's API and other frameworks like CrewAI and LibreChat. I use these tools to explore the creation of custom AIs for both personal use and as a productivity tool in our business at Sentry Enterprises. When I have a complex technical question about the latest engineering specifications for a particular product, checking in with one of my personalized AI tools is often my first stop.
When I’m looking to decompress, I scratch my artistic itch with AIs like Midjourney – a tool that I've been using for nearly two years to create a variety of artwork for business presentations, social media posts, and you name it. I've also been extremely impressed with embedded AI tools now found in Adobe Photoshop—what would have taken me 30 minutes to do now takes seconds. It's a great example of how AI is a tool that increases my creative expression and productivity rather than replacing it.
I primarily use a custom GPT that I developed on top of OpenAI's GPT 4. This AI assistant has a knowledge base of my personal philosophy, beliefs, writings, technical expertise, and communication style. I use it regularly to bounce ideas off and turn a simple concept into something more concrete that I can share with my team or a public audience.
What about brainstorming?
A key facet of brainstorming utilizing an AI is knowing what to ask and how to ask it— or "prompt engineering." One opportunity that people frequently fail to use is to ask the AI to provide constructive criticism—have the AI play the role of a "devil's advocate"! Ask the program why an idea might not work or what might go wrong. Then ask it how it would recommend mitigating those issues or how it would adjust your idea. You can even ask it to respond as if it had the background of a particular well-known real-life individual who would either support or disagree with your viewpoint. For example, I might ask something like, "Provide me with an insightful view and opinion of the following product concept as if you were Steve Jobs. Be sure to share both what you like and dislike about the concept and why. Here is my product concept: …"
That being said, there is always the risk of homogenization of creative outputs, as more people use AI as a creative tool and as AI algorithms begin to favor patterns of "success", this could stifle true innovation and diversity in artistic expression. Additionally, over-reliance on AI can lead people to under-develop or utilize their own creative skills and critical thinking, as the convenience of AI-generated solutions might discourage the deep, often challenging processes that are essential to creativity. And then, of course, there are ethical considerations around copyright and originality, as determining the ownership of AI-generated content can be complex.
It's important to use AI as a tool to augment and amplify your own creative and productivity skills, but don't let it do all of the thinking for you! AI is here to spark new ideas, explore possibilities, and refine your vision. Using AI as a tool and fostering your own creativity creates a future filled with groundbreaking innovation and originality.
What do you think?
What AI tools do you use? How have they improved your productivity? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Did you find this article useful or insightful? Then, be sure to share it with your friends and colleagues.
Let’s continue the conversation. Find me everywhere @markbennettceo, where we delve deeper into the frontiers of technology, the endless expanse of human ingenuity, and #BreakingOutOfAverage.