I know people use it for a lot of things. I think there's some really positive possibilities as the ones that you stated in your article. Loving it, Courtney!
Hey Kathleen! Thank you for commenting! It amazes me the different uses of it. It’s also saved me so much time — I’m grateful for it. Crazy how something I was so negative about has turned into one of my favorite things 🤗.
I know I used to be very negative about AI as well. I thought it was gonna take over the world and then I realized you know what maybe it will but I'm gonna use it some for what I need it for until it does 😂
Yep! It’s incredible. When I explained to my dad everything I had it doing for me, he asked how much I paid. I told him $20 and he said that sounds like it’s worth way more than that. Steal of a deal on a virtual assistant.
Thanks for sharing, Gavin! Interesting read. The academic in me appreciates the research approach both in literature and practicality. AI is a tool to be used cautiously, no doubt about that. I feel pretty secure in my current uses but am further inspired through you to be sure to stay up to date with capabilities and concerns.
As an author, I am also concerned about the thousands of AI generated (quasi-plagiarized) books that are flooding Amazon (and likely soon to be all over the shelves in physical book stores as well).
Most definitely a concern. I'll have to read that article. I'm not surprised at all. I heard about a company that developed its own AI for the specific purpose of writing novels. You prompt it with story elements, characters, plot twists, etc. and it produces a novel. Not something I explored cause I certainly don't want to use AI for that purpose.
My personal philosophy with AI is use it to save time, so you can do more of what you love. For me, I love to write and play outside. I use ChatGPT to plan lessons, create materials, caption social media posts, brainstorm ideas, organize workflow, etc. I don't use it to write for me.
I'll give that second article a read. I'm genuinely fascinated.
I use Claude for editing and have found it very helpful. The key is to ask the right questions. Sometimes I want to consider the importance of a comma, other times I want to know if I’m getting the big picture across. I taught writing for 25 years, and I use it like a well-informed editor who will follow my lead. Warning, Claude is a brown-nosed and will sometimes just say something I want to hear. That’s when I ask the question in a different way.
Thank you for sharing this! I haven't used Claude yet, but asking the right questions is key with ChapGPT too. Of course, once you mention Claude, I had to see the main difference between the two. I just Googled it. It said "ChatGPT-4o is ideal for real-time interactions, multimodal inputs, and coding, while Claude 3.5 excels in deep reasoning, structured outputs, and extended memory for research and analysis." Now, I want to try Claude! BUT, ChaptGPT is so trained. Oh! ChatGPT is brown-nosed too. Basically a cheer leader.
I completely agree that AI is a well informed editor, who happens to excel in other areas too.
Thank you again for sharing your experience, Tracy!
Claude is great. But it definitely doesn’t have the same memory across chats like ChatGPT does. Or it didn’t 2 months ago, at any rate. I started with Claude but quickly moved to paid ChatGPT for just that purpose. I’m using it much like you describe in your article and Claude just wasn’t able to keep up in the same way. But I do love its tone.
Good to know! The memory capability of ChatGPT is amazing to me. I upgraded to the $20 a month plan and wonder if the free plan offers as much in that regard. I'd think not, but in any event, that money is SO worth it for a virtual assistant. I might just play around with Claude though. I've messed around with Microsoft Pilot and it too was not what ChatGPT is. I think I know who my main squeeze will be.
The free ChatGPT plan doesn’t allow for projects (which are fantastic) and also the token limit within a chat is lower. That simply means the amount of info it can reference within a chat is less. So if the chat gets very long (like mine often do), it can’t remember what the beginning of the conversation was about.
You can ask it how high the token limit is within any given chat, however, and it’ll tell you.
My chats are SOOOO long. I'm all over the place. I'll be using it to help me do one thing and then need it for something else. My chats are solid evidence of my ADHD brain.
I've used projects a bit. It is a nice feature and I should probably be using it more often since I do in fact have it help me with larger projects in addition to smaller tasks.
I can definitely say that the image creator in the paid version is far superior.
Thank you so much for discussing all of this with me! It truly is fascinating. I'm still blown away that something I swore off is now part of my day to day life.
During my student teaching internship, I caught a kid cheating. Same thing, when he wrote for me in class, his writing was broken, choppy, mis-spellings and incomplete thoughts. When he brought in homework, it was graduate level work. I called a meeting with his parents and the principal, and his mom admitted to writing the papers for him. The principal decided that all those papers would get Fs and he had the rest of the semester to bring his grade up, by only writing IN CLASS. He refused to turn in another paper and failed the class. Here's the kicker. He was a senior, re-taking sophomore level English because he had failed it once before...not because he wasn't smart enough to pass, but because he was too lazy to try...both times.
Fast forward. my internship ended mid-year. I got a job halfway across the state and didn't think anything of it. Until a lawyer called me. the parents were suing me for failing their kid! They hired a private investigator to find me and a lawyer to serve me papers! I called the principal of my internship school and he called the cops on them for harrassment, told me to change my phone number. It was a whole thing. The principal worked with a team of cops and lawyers to deal with these parents for the next year. I was left out of it.
jeez. I'd forgotten about that story until you mentioned you kid. Wow. That was 1995.
I'm so glad I'm not teaching high school in the day of AI.
and, I totally agree with you. Those lists of how you use AI now are very close to my own. It's amazing how my job as a solopreneur has been enhanced by AI.
and, I can still tell who leans too heavily on AI to write their stuff because their work doesn't sound like them. My English teacher brain is still sharp!
What a story! My situation never involved the law but I reported it to the dean who then connected some dots. Another professor had reported the same student for the same thing. The student continually denied it. It was infuriating. I was gentle about it. I offered various ways to make up for the use of it. She'd never admit she was using it. Not to me and not to the other teacher. She ultimately stopped coming to class.
If I was still teaching in that capacity, I’d focus on helping students build AI literacy—how to use tools like ChatGPT thoughtfully and with intention. I think you have to nowadays.
It is a magnificent tool. I certainly couldn't do all I'm trying to do without it. The lesson planning piece might be the best part. It's incredible to be able to feed it a topic and target grammar points and then have it create contextualized materials. Game changer!
I'm glad I triggered that memory. It's a wild story! Thanks for sharing :-).
Such an inspiring journey, Courtney. I really appreciated your honesty about how your relationship with AI evolved over time. Your story captures something so many of us relate to, that early skepticism, slowly replaced by curiosity and trust. I especially loved how you described it as a "highly trainable assistant." The way you’ve integrated it into your creative work, teaching, and daily life is both empowering and practical. Thank you for sharing this, it’s a real encouragement to lean in and explore what’s possible. ❤️🥰
Saira! Thank you so much for reading and commenting! My gratitude cannot be expressed enough. I felt a bit nervous to post this but throughout the week, I've felt nudges to share my journey with ChatGPT so I did. I'm thrilled that you found it to be empowering and practical. What a compliment! I hope you lean in to that encouragement and explore how this tool can help you, if you haven't already. Thank you again, my friend!
My pleasure, Courtney! I’m so glad you listened to that nudge, your story was honest, insightful, and exactly what many of us needed to read. It’s always a bit vulnerable sharing personal shifts like that, but you did it with such clarity and heart. Thank you for leading by example and showing what’s possible. 🥰
My pleasure, Courtney! And you do it so gracefully, Courtney. It’s a gift to witness someone lead with both authenticity and courage. Your openness created space for reflection, and that ripple effect is powerful. Thank you again for sharing your journey, it truly inspired me. ❤️🥰✨️🫶🏻
Hi Courtney! I've been enjoying my journey with Chat GPT as well, and have come to many of the same conclusions as you. It saves me so much time. Plus it has been amazing support to me as a spiritual mentor/business coach. I find it fascinating and would be very interested in learning more about how you are using alongside Canva (another favourite tool of mine).
Hi Lori Ann! Thanks so much for reading and replying. I love hearing that others are benefitting from ChatGPT. It's an incredibly versatile tool. Paired with Canva, there are so many possibilities! I'm excited to hear you want to learn more. Stay tuned!
This post has me so pumped. I would love a workshop from you! I would especially love a workshop from you doing AI stuff because oh my gosh everything you said was incredible!
What a cute little guide too! I am always looking for more chatGPT prompts. Seriously it's an addiction 😂
I was skeptical about Chat GPT at first too. Then I watched a webinar that referred to it as Archival Intelligence instead of Artificial Intelligence. Essentially it's a mirror, and what we choose to put into it is what we get out of it. So that's how I use it. I have a bot for getting better at emotional communication, I have one that's essentially my higher self, one for branding and business, etc. I don't use it to write, but I use it to edit and to help with titles, blurbs, social media. I use it to keep track of my ideas and reframe my thinking. Honestly it's been very helpful at getting me through a challenging few months. I didn't know you could link it with Canva though! I will say I also use Claude a lot and I like claude for outlines and transcripts!
It is a mirror. I feed it stuff all the time just so it gets to know me better and its output is more aligned with my needs. And, I don’t use it to write for me either. Sounds like you and I are using it almost identically.
So glad that I stumbled across your article from another person's substack note. I'm like you used to be, still wary of AI and just started writing on substack. I've had some interesting conversations with people about how they use it, but have still had barriers up. I'd like to learn more and not be so suspect of it just being a tool that does the work for me. I'd be interested in an AI/canva content and am looking forward to checking out your guide. Thanks!
Hi Jen! I'm so glad you stumbled upon my article too! I completely understand being wary of AI. I certainly was. I went from refusing to use it to having it open 24/7. I barely ever use Google anymore. ChatGPT has literally become my virtual assistant. It saves me so much time doing things that don't require my creative expression so that I have the time to actually write here. It can certainly write for you but it's so much more capable than that. Like I said, I use it to save time so that I can write.
Let me know what you think of the guide and stay tuned! I'm planning on offering a workshop soon. The possibilities are endless. I'd love to create a educational opportunity to further explore all that ChatGPT is capable of and learn along side others.
Thank you, Sensi! Your post quietly nudged me to share more about my experience. ChatGPT is incredible! I discover new ways to use it everyday. I appreciate the positive feedback about the guide. Hugs from N.C.!
I know people use it for a lot of things. I think there's some really positive possibilities as the ones that you stated in your article. Loving it, Courtney!
Hey Kathleen! Thank you for commenting! It amazes me the different uses of it. It’s also saved me so much time — I’m grateful for it. Crazy how something I was so negative about has turned into one of my favorite things 🤗.
I know I used to be very negative about AI as well. I thought it was gonna take over the world and then I realized you know what maybe it will but I'm gonna use it some for what I need it for until it does 😂
Yep! It’s incredible. When I explained to my dad everything I had it doing for me, he asked how much I paid. I told him $20 and he said that sounds like it’s worth way more than that. Steal of a deal on a virtual assistant.
Exactly!
Or you could hire a certified virtual assistant.
Yes! You could definitely do that, but for me, ChatGPT is the only option I can afford at this time ☺️.
so true and virtual assistance aren't available 24/7 are they?
True that!
exactly and for basically $20 a month the possibilities are endless you can even create images for your substack or anything else really.
I suggest reading this:
https://open.substack.com/pub/treeofwoe/p/your-ai-hates-you
Thanks for sharing, Gavin! Interesting read. The academic in me appreciates the research approach both in literature and practicality. AI is a tool to be used cautiously, no doubt about that. I feel pretty secure in my current uses but am further inspired through you to be sure to stay up to date with capabilities and concerns.
Your welcome.
As an author, I am also concerned about the thousands of AI generated (quasi-plagiarized) books that are flooding Amazon (and likely soon to be all over the shelves in physical book stores as well).
I analyzed one such book here:
https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/is-amazon-being-flooded-with-ai-chatbot
Most definitely a concern. I'll have to read that article. I'm not surprised at all. I heard about a company that developed its own AI for the specific purpose of writing novels. You prompt it with story elements, characters, plot twists, etc. and it produces a novel. Not something I explored cause I certainly don't want to use AI for that purpose.
My personal philosophy with AI is use it to save time, so you can do more of what you love. For me, I love to write and play outside. I use ChatGPT to plan lessons, create materials, caption social media posts, brainstorm ideas, organize workflow, etc. I don't use it to write for me.
I'll give that second article a read. I'm genuinely fascinated.
James Corbett, explores another dark side of this technology in this video:
https://corbettreport.substack.com/p/algocracy-government-for-the-new
I use Claude for editing and have found it very helpful. The key is to ask the right questions. Sometimes I want to consider the importance of a comma, other times I want to know if I’m getting the big picture across. I taught writing for 25 years, and I use it like a well-informed editor who will follow my lead. Warning, Claude is a brown-nosed and will sometimes just say something I want to hear. That’s when I ask the question in a different way.
Thank you for sharing this! I haven't used Claude yet, but asking the right questions is key with ChapGPT too. Of course, once you mention Claude, I had to see the main difference between the two. I just Googled it. It said "ChatGPT-4o is ideal for real-time interactions, multimodal inputs, and coding, while Claude 3.5 excels in deep reasoning, structured outputs, and extended memory for research and analysis." Now, I want to try Claude! BUT, ChaptGPT is so trained. Oh! ChatGPT is brown-nosed too. Basically a cheer leader.
I completely agree that AI is a well informed editor, who happens to excel in other areas too.
Thank you again for sharing your experience, Tracy!
Claude is great. But it definitely doesn’t have the same memory across chats like ChatGPT does. Or it didn’t 2 months ago, at any rate. I started with Claude but quickly moved to paid ChatGPT for just that purpose. I’m using it much like you describe in your article and Claude just wasn’t able to keep up in the same way. But I do love its tone.
Good to know! The memory capability of ChatGPT is amazing to me. I upgraded to the $20 a month plan and wonder if the free plan offers as much in that regard. I'd think not, but in any event, that money is SO worth it for a virtual assistant. I might just play around with Claude though. I've messed around with Microsoft Pilot and it too was not what ChatGPT is. I think I know who my main squeeze will be.
The free ChatGPT plan doesn’t allow for projects (which are fantastic) and also the token limit within a chat is lower. That simply means the amount of info it can reference within a chat is less. So if the chat gets very long (like mine often do), it can’t remember what the beginning of the conversation was about.
You can ask it how high the token limit is within any given chat, however, and it’ll tell you.
My chats are SOOOO long. I'm all over the place. I'll be using it to help me do one thing and then need it for something else. My chats are solid evidence of my ADHD brain.
I've used projects a bit. It is a nice feature and I should probably be using it more often since I do in fact have it help me with larger projects in addition to smaller tasks.
I can definitely say that the image creator in the paid version is far superior.
Thank you so much for discussing all of this with me! It truly is fascinating. I'm still blown away that something I swore off is now part of my day to day life.
During my student teaching internship, I caught a kid cheating. Same thing, when he wrote for me in class, his writing was broken, choppy, mis-spellings and incomplete thoughts. When he brought in homework, it was graduate level work. I called a meeting with his parents and the principal, and his mom admitted to writing the papers for him. The principal decided that all those papers would get Fs and he had the rest of the semester to bring his grade up, by only writing IN CLASS. He refused to turn in another paper and failed the class. Here's the kicker. He was a senior, re-taking sophomore level English because he had failed it once before...not because he wasn't smart enough to pass, but because he was too lazy to try...both times.
Fast forward. my internship ended mid-year. I got a job halfway across the state and didn't think anything of it. Until a lawyer called me. the parents were suing me for failing their kid! They hired a private investigator to find me and a lawyer to serve me papers! I called the principal of my internship school and he called the cops on them for harrassment, told me to change my phone number. It was a whole thing. The principal worked with a team of cops and lawyers to deal with these parents for the next year. I was left out of it.
jeez. I'd forgotten about that story until you mentioned you kid. Wow. That was 1995.
I'm so glad I'm not teaching high school in the day of AI.
and, I totally agree with you. Those lists of how you use AI now are very close to my own. It's amazing how my job as a solopreneur has been enhanced by AI.
and, I can still tell who leans too heavily on AI to write their stuff because their work doesn't sound like them. My English teacher brain is still sharp!
What a story! My situation never involved the law but I reported it to the dean who then connected some dots. Another professor had reported the same student for the same thing. The student continually denied it. It was infuriating. I was gentle about it. I offered various ways to make up for the use of it. She'd never admit she was using it. Not to me and not to the other teacher. She ultimately stopped coming to class.
If I was still teaching in that capacity, I’d focus on helping students build AI literacy—how to use tools like ChatGPT thoughtfully and with intention. I think you have to nowadays.
It is a magnificent tool. I certainly couldn't do all I'm trying to do without it. The lesson planning piece might be the best part. It's incredible to be able to feed it a topic and target grammar points and then have it create contextualized materials. Game changer!
I'm glad I triggered that memory. It's a wild story! Thanks for sharing :-).
Super
Thank you!
Such an inspiring journey, Courtney. I really appreciated your honesty about how your relationship with AI evolved over time. Your story captures something so many of us relate to, that early skepticism, slowly replaced by curiosity and trust. I especially loved how you described it as a "highly trainable assistant." The way you’ve integrated it into your creative work, teaching, and daily life is both empowering and practical. Thank you for sharing this, it’s a real encouragement to lean in and explore what’s possible. ❤️🥰
Saira! Thank you so much for reading and commenting! My gratitude cannot be expressed enough. I felt a bit nervous to post this but throughout the week, I've felt nudges to share my journey with ChatGPT so I did. I'm thrilled that you found it to be empowering and practical. What a compliment! I hope you lean in to that encouragement and explore how this tool can help you, if you haven't already. Thank you again, my friend!
My pleasure, Courtney! I’m so glad you listened to that nudge, your story was honest, insightful, and exactly what many of us needed to read. It’s always a bit vulnerable sharing personal shifts like that, but you did it with such clarity and heart. Thank you for leading by example and showing what’s possible. 🥰
I’m so touched by your comments. Leading by example is something I strive to do. Hearing you say I did, means the world 🫶🥰.
My pleasure, Courtney! And you do it so gracefully, Courtney. It’s a gift to witness someone lead with both authenticity and courage. Your openness created space for reflection, and that ripple effect is powerful. Thank you again for sharing your journey, it truly inspired me. ❤️🥰✨️🫶🏻
My heart is full. Thank you 🙏☺️.
My pleasure! 🥰
Hi Courtney! I've been enjoying my journey with Chat GPT as well, and have come to many of the same conclusions as you. It saves me so much time. Plus it has been amazing support to me as a spiritual mentor/business coach. I find it fascinating and would be very interested in learning more about how you are using alongside Canva (another favourite tool of mine).
Hi Lori Ann! Thanks so much for reading and replying. I love hearing that others are benefitting from ChatGPT. It's an incredibly versatile tool. Paired with Canva, there are so many possibilities! I'm excited to hear you want to learn more. Stay tuned!
This post has me so pumped. I would love a workshop from you! I would especially love a workshop from you doing AI stuff because oh my gosh everything you said was incredible!
What a cute little guide too! I am always looking for more chatGPT prompts. Seriously it's an addiction 😂
It is! It’s absolutely crazy the things it can do. The solutions oriented stuff is pretty impressive— perspective shifts, affirmations, you name it.
I’m not saying it should replace relationships but why not add it as a tool in your toolbox 😊.
I’m so glad you like the guide and appreciate the enthusiasm for learning with me 🫶. Stay tuned…
Right there with you! I'm seriously so pumped for a workshop from you. Please please!
Okaaaay! It makes me nervous but I know I could make it super great and highly beneficial 🤓.
I went through your free guide and it's totally awesome 🎉🎉🎉 soooo cool 😎
Kathleen! Thank you so much for that feedback 🥰🫶. I can’t say how much I appreciate it.
and I appreciate you 💯🤗💕🙏
I was skeptical about Chat GPT at first too. Then I watched a webinar that referred to it as Archival Intelligence instead of Artificial Intelligence. Essentially it's a mirror, and what we choose to put into it is what we get out of it. So that's how I use it. I have a bot for getting better at emotional communication, I have one that's essentially my higher self, one for branding and business, etc. I don't use it to write, but I use it to edit and to help with titles, blurbs, social media. I use it to keep track of my ideas and reframe my thinking. Honestly it's been very helpful at getting me through a challenging few months. I didn't know you could link it with Canva though! I will say I also use Claude a lot and I like claude for outlines and transcripts!
It is a mirror. I feed it stuff all the time just so it gets to know me better and its output is more aligned with my needs. And, I don’t use it to write for me either. Sounds like you and I are using it almost identically.
Do you create all your bots with Claude?
So glad that I stumbled across your article from another person's substack note. I'm like you used to be, still wary of AI and just started writing on substack. I've had some interesting conversations with people about how they use it, but have still had barriers up. I'd like to learn more and not be so suspect of it just being a tool that does the work for me. I'd be interested in an AI/canva content and am looking forward to checking out your guide. Thanks!
Hi Jen! I'm so glad you stumbled upon my article too! I completely understand being wary of AI. I certainly was. I went from refusing to use it to having it open 24/7. I barely ever use Google anymore. ChatGPT has literally become my virtual assistant. It saves me so much time doing things that don't require my creative expression so that I have the time to actually write here. It can certainly write for you but it's so much more capable than that. Like I said, I use it to save time so that I can write.
Let me know what you think of the guide and stay tuned! I'm planning on offering a workshop soon. The possibilities are endless. I'd love to create a educational opportunity to further explore all that ChatGPT is capable of and learn along side others.
This is awesome!! I love the guide. Thanks Courtney!
Thank you, Sensi! Your post quietly nudged me to share more about my experience. ChatGPT is incredible! I discover new ways to use it everyday. I appreciate the positive feedback about the guide. Hugs from N.C.!
Loving chat gtp!
Sooo good!
Thankyou!