A letter about AI, written 100% without AI

I write this today from Glasgow. We live in Dubai and have come here for the Eid break to see my in-laws and get a much needed reset.

We have been lucky to have five days of glorious sun, no rain and perhaps its been the first time - ever - I have been walking around with no jumper!

Also, this is the first time in about two years that I am writing this with ZERO AI support (cross my heart).

(Funny that, since I literally re-named this Substack “Activate”, which now feels like a pill I don’t want to take, and I am wondering if that was a good idea.)

I’ve opened a Google doc and am just writing. From the heart.

No bouncing an outline with my trained GPT in ChatGPT, or getting my Claude skill to edit it, or working with a proven newsletter prompt “template” that has a high chance of “performing” better. (And believe me when I say I have some brilliant ones).

I really miss writing. Just writing. Processing my thoughts and putting them out into the world.

I have been a writer in some form my entire life; I used to edit the school magazine, I was a full-time travel blogger for 3 years, and my career has been in the communications industry for over 17 years. I have a diploma in journalism from the London School of Journalism (I was so happy to see the School still exists!)

I also feel - whilst I teach how to write using AI - and there is purpose in that as many people are not writers, I do feel that, as a writer, if we are not careful, any writing skill we may have will slowly fizzle away if we don’t nip it in the bud.

I have been feeling like my writing is getting worse because I have been leaning so much on AI (creating content at scale and repurposing it), and I’m just glad that I am recognising it.

Jordan Wilson of Your Every Day AI in one of his podcasts talks about the seven sins of using AI the right way, and one of them is “deskilling”. As we “upskill” in our attempt to keep up in this world being taken over with AI, we need to make sure we are not deskilling in the process.

Not long ago I did an AI training for an organisation that was attended predominantly by the IT team, and they all felt like they are no longer good at coding - because they don’t need to code any more! Sure they can use their time to do other things, but what is the long term impact of losing a skill that they spent most their adult lives learning? Does it matter? What is all this doing to our brain?

I don’t have the answer and nor is there one right answer, but we do need to think about these things.

Like any tool, AI has its pros and cons, and honestly after working in this space for over three years now I am so torn between all the value it has to offer, and everything it is taking away from us.

Whilst AI is giving so many people a voice, building people’s dreams, and presenting opportunities we never imagined (maybe the world will see the first one person billion dollar company because of AI); it is also making us lazy, robbing us of our brain cells and our “authenticity” that we are now manufacturing instead.

To be clear, I am 100% FOR AI. I love it, I teach it, I help women get their heads around it without feeling overwhelmed with it, I help them bring out their voice with it. I also believe that the only way to be part of the conversation that is changing our world and that of our kids, is to know it, understand it, and use it.

But I am not unaware of the downsides of it and I feel just being aware of the worst of it is what we need to do, to benefit from the best of it.

Now that I have written this, my instinct is to put it into Claude for feedback and editing, but you know what - I will not.

My instinct is also to add more “value” to it - one prompt you can use today, or here’s the latest news that is shaking our world, or have you seen this insane AI tool that will revolutionise how you perceive the world?

But, there is so much of that, I feel drowned in it and all the information is blurring together and leaving me in a state of information overload and analysis paralysis. So this issue will not have any of that (sorry to disappoint?).

My goal at the moment is to not lose myself in the process of leveraging AI to empower others - and help you do the same.

I feel a responsibility to not only support other women on their AI journey, but also be real about it. What I don’t want is to be one of those who is jumping on the AI bandwagon to only rob myself and my audience of the bigger picture - ie why this all matters in the first place.

What that means exactly, for my business and my own journey with AI is yet to be determined.

What’s increasingly missing from this space now is 100% human thought and not being afraid to share it. I’m no longer sure how to do that without literally not using AI to think through it, and that needs to change - and that starts with this piece.

Over the next few weeks, I will continue to ponder my place in the AI space as an early adopter, educator and business owner. I hope you stick with me on this journey.

Abha x