top of page

The AI Playbook

How to make the best use of AI 

As of this writing (3/11/26) things are changing fast, so next week I might need to rewrite this. And...

​

Today it's important to remember that AIs are like an amazingly articulate and well-informed four-year-old. They can access and process much more information than we humans can, at much greater speed and scale. That gives them certain strengths but it also gives them certain weaknesses. 

​

Here's a playbook that I see as some general guidelines of how to get the most out of these tools and to put them to their best use.

Never outsource any bit of your humanity

  1. Never publish directly out of the mouth of an AI. 

  2. Judgment requires a human. AI surfaces options; you’re the decider.

  3. Empathy is ours. AI simulates understanding. Only you have a sense of how something will land.

  4. Your voice is yours. AI can draft; only you sound like you.

  5. Keep learning. In this life one is either learning or dying. Use AI to learn faster, not to avoid it.

 

Output with integrity

  1. Verify, verify, verify. AI hallucinates confidently.

  2. Own what you publish. "The AI wrote it" is a shitty defense.

  3. First drafts have never made good copy. Editing means pushing back, iterating, and refining.

  4. There was plenty of slop before AI. Don't use AI to produce mountains more. Please!

 

Be in the game together

  1. Demand a counterpoint, not a chorus. AI's value is in challenging your thinking, not confirming it.

  2. Be specific. Vague prompts produce vague output.

  3. Use AI for what it's good at: research, synthesis, and rote work. The tasks that consume time without requiring your judgment.

  4. Its best use is as a thinking partner, not a vending machine.

 

Use it wisely

  1. AI uses real resources. Use it thoughtfully, not reflexively.

  2. Not every task needs AI. We evolved brains for a reason; AI will help make it better or cause it to atrophy. The choice is yours.

bottom of page