9. Don't Let AI Do Your Thinking

https://www.helencollard.com/pathway

I use AI most days. I use it to help me think things through, organise my ideas, write things, create things, troubleshoot things and, occasionally, to tell me where the bloody button is in Kajabi.

But I’ve also learned that you have to be very careful about how much you let it take over.

In this episode, I’m talking about how I actually use AI in my business — including some of the times ChatGPT has been brilliant, some of the times it has been spectacularly wrong, and some of the times I’ve had to say, “No. That isn’t what I said.”

I talk about using ChatGPT as a thinking partner and a kind of mirror: something that can reflect patterns back to you, challenge your assumptions and help you see what you’re repeatedly talking about. That was part of the process that helped me articulate what eventually became The Next Chapter Pathway.

But there’s a big difference between using AI to help you think and asking it to do the thinking for you.

I also share what I’ve learned about AI making assumptions, hanging onto outdated information, being far too confident when it doesn't actually know the answer, producing content that sounds unmistakably AI-generated, and even completely losing the plot when I ask it to make a tiny change to an image.

And there’s a serious point underneath all the stories and the swearing.

AI can be incredibly useful. But it doesn't know what you want from your life. It doesn't know which direction is right for you. And it doesn't get to make the decisions.

Use AI as a mirror, not a map.

Let it help you explore, question, organise and create. But keep your own voice, your own judgement and your own ideas firmly in the driving seat.

Because otherwise, before you know it, you're asking a chatbot what you should do next with your life.

And frankly, that's a job for you.

In this episode I talk about:

How I use ChatGPT in my business

Why I started using AI as a thinking partner

How AI helped me spot patterns in my own thinking

The danger of AI making assumptions about you

What happens when AI confidently tells you how to do something it can't actually do

Why you shouldn't settle for the first AI-generated piece of content

Using AI to speed up the boring jobs

Why AI can be useful for getting thoughts out of your head

The difference between using AI to support your thinking and letting it replace your thinking

Why keeping your own voice and judgement matters

The big takeaway: Use AI as a mirror, not a map.

Let AI hold up the mirror. Don't let it take the wheel.