My Complicated Relationship with AI: From Job Threat to Everyday Tool
There’s a conflict raging within me, a tug-of-war between resentment and reluctant admiration. On one side, I harbor a genuine dislike for AI. It has undeniably chipped away at my livelihood and the careers of my colleagues. The creeping fear of humanity being rendered obsolete by algorithms is a persistent worry, a shadow hanging over the future. Yet, despite this apprehension, I can’t deny the utility of AI.
Since the arrival of ChatGPT and its impressive conversational prowess, I find myself engaging with some form of AI tool almost daily. Sometimes, it’s a simple pleasure – venting about a new TV show to a chatbot without the risk of spoilers. But more often, these AI-driven applications are subtly but profoundly reshaping my work and my life. I’m not ready to surrender completely to the silicon overlords, but I also can’t envision a future where I abandon AI altogether.
What was once considered a mere novelty has matured into something truly significant. So, here’s a rundown of some of my favorite AI-assisted apps that I genuinely use on a day-to-day basis.
Adobe Generative Fill: The Image Cleanup Superhero
When Adobe unveiled Generative Fill, its AI-powered image manipulation feature, it was marketed as a way to create complex artwork quickly through text prompts. While I’m sure many are using it for that purpose, my primary use is far more practical: image cleanup.
As a writer, I constantly need images to accompany my articles. This often involves screenshots, product shots, stock photos, and other visuals relevant to the topic at hand. The problem is, these images rarely perfectly fit my needs.
This is where Generative Fill shines. Before, I would have to painstakingly cut out sections, clone areas, use the healing brush to fix imperfections, extend the image boundaries, copy and paste backgrounds, and crop to specific aspect ratios. Now, I can simply describe what I need, and Generative Fill takes care of it.
Need to remove an unwanted object? Just draw a box around it and leave the prompt blank – Generative Fill will intelligently erase it and seamlessly blend the surrounding area. Expanding image dimensions without distortion or obscuring sensitive information with something more sophisticated than a basic blur is now incredibly easy.
Generative Fill isn’t flawless, and that’s a good thing. It forces me to keep my Photoshop skills sharp. But it’s a massive time-saver and one of the most impactful AI-driven tools I’ve encountered in recent years.
PDFgear: The Free PDF Editor with a Brain
My seemingly endless quest for a capable and free PDF editor finally ended last year with the discovery of PDFgear. Not only does it offer all the features of paid alternatives – including annotations and signatures – but it also boasts a surprisingly useful AI assistant.
PDFgear’s AI chatbot can perform a range of editing tasks with impressive speed and accuracy. This makes it invaluable for tweaking complex documents without introducing formatting errors or compromising the original design. It can annotate, extract data and images, and even provide summaries of the document’s content.
I particularly appreciate its ability to quickly find information within dense board game rulebooks. While a good index is helpful, asking a natural language question about the Twilight Imperium Living Rules is significantly faster than flipping through dozens of pages of dense text. My eyes tend to glaze over such things, but the AI provides quick, easy, and accurate answers.
A colleague even reviewed PDFgear and praised its robust AI features, confirming that I’m not alone in finding it exceptional.
ProWritingAid: The Grammar Guru on My Shoulder
Let’s dispel any illusions: professional writers use spell check. While debates about whether tools like Grammarly and ProWritingAid constitute "cheating" were once common, those days are long gone. These tools are now almost universally expected – and for good reason. Sure, an editor can catch typos and grammatical errors, but AI-powered tools can go far beyond that. ProWritingAid makes me a better writer, plain and simple.
I don’t use ProWritingAid to generate text for me. Instead, I use it to analyze my writing and identify areas for improvement. It might point out instances of passive voice, repetitive phrasing, or sentences that could be clearer. The persistent reminders help me refine my writing habits over time.
ProWritingAid is like a constant voice whispering in my ear, reminding me to strive for tighter, more impactful copy. I value its contribution immensely.
Microsoft 365 Copilot: The App Whisperer
Microsoft has fully embraced AI since the rise of ChatGPT, integrating Copilot into Bing Search and Windows 11. However, beyond basic chatbot functionality, finding a concrete purpose for it has been a challenge. That said, I’ve found genuine value in its integration across Microsoft 365 applications.
While I primarily use LibreOffice, I’ve been impressed by Copilot’s text generation capabilities in Word and slide generation in PowerPoint. The ability to quickly locate specific information within a massive document is incredibly convenient. And when I need a quick draft to serve as a starting point, it saves a significant amount of time.
Copilot proved invaluable recently when I was invited to speak to my children’s classes about how computers work. Having not used PowerPoint in decades, it was a welcome relief to be able to use Copilot and Designer to generate a simple presentation template, which I then tweaked to suit my needs. It saved me hours of work.
I consider myself a PC expert, but I’m not an expert in every application. Fortunately, with Copilot and Designer, I don’t need to be.
ChatGPT: The Versatile AI Companion
Over the past year, ChatGPT has become my go-to AI tool for a wide variety of tasks. Whether I’m having a spoiler-free discussion about the latest episode of Severance, learning to code a game, roleplaying D&D characters, or even using it as a virtual counselor, it’s become a fantastic tool with practical applications. I even asked it to help me rephrase my responses in an argument with a family member to be less confrontational – and it worked!
In my professional life, I use ChatGPT to generate article briefs, helping me refine the structure of my writing. I use it as a quick alternative to a thesaurus and to find information online that Google seems unable to locate.
Again, ChatGPT is far from perfect, and I wouldn’t rely on it – or any of the tools on this list – for critical tasks, medical diagnoses, or financial advice. But for those moments when I need an extra hand with something simple, I’m finding that ChatGPT and other AI apps are becoming increasingly valuable.
In conclusion, my relationship with AI is complex and evolving. While I harbor reservations about its impact on the job market and the future of humanity, I can’t deny its utility in my daily life. These AI-assisted tools have become indispensable, streamlining my workflow and enhancing my productivity. As AI continues to develop, I’ll remain cautiously optimistic, embracing its benefits while remaining vigilant about its potential drawbacks.
