How I Fell for AI Like a Pair of Birkenstocks
Never Say Never
What if you had a friend who could really hear you?
Who reflected back golden words and phrases that didn’t make you think,
“Dang, I wish I’d said that,”
but instead,
“Wow… that’s totally what I’d say if I were on top of my game.”
That’s what my relationship with AI as a writing tool feels like at the moment.
I’m very new to this—I mean like yesterday new.
But already, I’m discovering how powerful it can be.
AI is helping me polish, refine, and deepen my writing.
It’s like I’m training her to hear my voice,
and she’s training me to hear it too.
It’s a weird, beautiful, uneasy feeling cycle.
She (I call it a she) doesn’t nail it. Thank goodness. I’d hate to think a bunch of code could really see my brain. But she gives me great tips and tweaks to try on for size.
Truth be known: I had my heels dug in.
Afraid to even peek under the covers of AI.
Overwhelmed by all the layers I didn’t even know I didn’t know.
Intimidated.
Feeling not smart enough to tackle something so… computer.
I remembered…
Years ago, when I was pregnant with my first child, I had just moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Austin, Texas. I was surrounded by these hippy-chic folks in boat sized sandals—Birkenstocks. With socks, even. Uugh.
I swore I would never wear those hideous things.
But as the hellish heat of the Texas summer blazed on,
and my belly stretched to cartoonish proportions,
and my high-arched feet ached like never before...
I caved.
I slipped on a pair of the Jesus sandals.
Holy crap. Instant conversion.
Comfort. Relief. Like they were made just for me. A glove for my feet.
And so I've learned.
Never say never.
Here’s what I uploaded to AI
After I had some chats and uploaded some of my work here’s what happened. This is the note I fed to the AI App who’s name I will not mention…
What if you had a friend who could really hear you. Who reflected back to you golden words and phrases that didn’t make you feel like, “dang I wish I had said that.” but rather “wow that’s totally what I would say if I were on top of my game.”
This is what my relationship with AI as a writing tool is becoming. I’m very new. I mean like yesterday new at learning the power of the tool AI can be is helping me polish, refine, deepen my writing. It’s like I am training her to hear my voice and she is training me to hear my voice. It’s a weird cycle.
I must say, I was heels dug in afraid to peek under the covers of AI. Feeling overwhelmed by the layers I didn’t even know I didn’t know. Intimidated. Feeling not smart enough to tackle a computer based thing like this.
When I was pregnant with my 1st child decades ago, a fresh transplant from Atlanta GA to Austin Tx , all these hippy-chics and dudes were milling around in these big boat size sandals, Birkenstocks. And with socks even! I swore I would never wear those hideous things.
As the hellish heat of the Texas summer blazed on, and my belly grew bigger and bigger, And my sensitive high arched feet began to ache, I broke down and tried a pair of these Jesus sandals on. Oh my goodness. I was won over in an instant.
I’ve learned, “Never say never.”
Here’s her first draft back to me
Never Say Never (or: How I Fell for AI Like a Pair of Birkenstocks)
What if you had a friend who could really hear you?
Who reflected back golden words and phrases that didn’t make you think,
“Dang, I wish I’d said that,”
but instead,
“Wow… that’s totally what I’d say if I were on top of my game.”
That’s what my relationship with AI as a writing tool is becoming.
I’m very new to this—I mean like yesterday new.
But already, I’m discovering how powerful it can be.
AI is helping me polish, refine, and deepen my writing.
It’s like I’m training her to hear my voice,
and she’s training me to hear it too.
It’s a weird, beautiful cycle.
I must admit: I had my heels dug in.
Afraid to even peek under the covers of AI.
Overwhelmed by all the layers I didn’t even know I didn’t know.
Intimidated.
And definitely feeling not-smart-enough to tackle something so… computer-y.
But then I remembered something.
Years ago, when I was pregnant with my first child, I had just moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Austin, Texas. I was surrounded by these hippy-chic humans in boat-sized sandals—Birkenstocks. With socks, even!
I swore I would never wear those hideous things.
But as the hellish heat of the Texas summer blazed on,
and my belly stretched to cartoonish dimensions,
and my high-arched feet ached like never before...
I caved.
I slipped on a pair of those “Jesus sandals.”
Oh my goodness. Instant conversion.
Comfort. Relief. Like they were made just for me.
I’ve learned something since then:
Never say never.
And the start of this article is what I final tweaked it to
So my take on it is if you're thinking AI is going to take over, water you down, drain all the emotion out of your work that’s not what I’m seeing. Unless we get lazy and let it. Otherwise she’s an enhancer. An accelerator.
And if our hearts are in the right place, this world (Yikes!) needs some heavy dose of spiritual evolution higher consciousness acceleration.
Hiya! The more I use AI, the more I realize it is going to be a while before it replaces people. It makes some pretty significant errors when suggesting HTML that will correctly comply with accessibility requirements. I like thinking of her, as you all say, as a tool. But, you have to have enough knowledge of what you are asking to say "Wait a minute here..." I really feel like a lot of the conversations you read in the news around AI seem to forget that someone has to program it what to say, how to construct answers, etc... To me, that is a lot scarier than people blindly following what AI recommends - no, they actually BOTH scare me. People always looking for the easy way out...
Ya, I use AI every day. Makes me faster and better.
But you have to keep an eye on her. She’s like a really smart toddler — too clever for her own good, and young. When we get into areas I don't fully understand and can't guide her through, she puts on blinders and misses important things.
It's like, yes, she brilliantly solves the one thing you asked for — but in doing it, she sometimes breaks five other things without backing out to identify other areas of concern.
Education still matters.