Trust AI. Then Check Its Work.
I use AI all the time.
I use it to brainstorm, organize information, proofread, summarize, research, and help me work through ideas faster. Sometimes it saves me an enormous amount of time. Sometimes it helps me get past a sticking point in seconds. Sometimes it takes a task I really do not want to do and gets me halfway there before I’ve had my second cup of coffee.
And sometimes it confidently tries to move Oregon to the East Coast.
That actually happened.
I was working on a map and using AI to help check locations and pin placements. At one point, it looked at something that was clearly in Oregon and somehow tried to place it back East. Not vaguely wrong. Not a little off. Spectacularly wrong.
It was hilarious.
It was also a perfect reminder of something I think people need to hear more often:
Always check what AI tells you.
Not because AI is useless.
Not because AI is bad.
Not because humans are somehow superior in every situation.
But because AI can be wrong, just like people can be wrong—and when it is wrong, it often sounds extremely sure of itself.
That is what makes it tricky.
A human being will sometimes say, “I think this is right, but let me double-check.”
AI will often say the equivalent of, “Absolutely. Here is your answer,” and hand you something polished, neat, persuasive, and occasionally absurd.
That polished confidence can fool people.
And that is why I think the most important thing to remember when using AI is this:
You have a brain. Use it.
AI should help you think. It should not replace thinking.
Human Flaws Don’t Disappear Just Because the Tool Isn’t Human
A lot of people talk about AI as if it somehow exists outside the messy limitations of people. It doesn’t.
Even when it is not actively searching the internet in the moment, AI has been built from human-made information, human-written language, human patterns, human decisions, human errors, and human assumptions. If the information out in the world is flawed, incomplete, contradictory, or sloppy, that flaw does not magically disappear just because a computer is packaging it for you.
And beyond that, AI can make its own mistakes. It can misunderstand context. It can draw a bad conclusion. It can connect the wrong dots. It can give you an answer that sounds elegant while quietly missing the point.
So no, AI is not some pure, untouchable source of truth.
It is a tool.
A very impressive tool.
A very useful tool.
And still a tool.
The Best Use of AI Is Not to Replace Judgment
I think one of the smartest ways to use AI is not to let it make your decisions for you, but to let it handle the tasks that waste your time.
That’s where it becomes genuinely useful.
There are so many chores in creative work and business that are necessary but tedious:
Building an Excel sheet.
Organizing information.
Sorting lists.
Cleaning up data.
Creating formulas.
Setting up repetitive content.
Preparing a spreadsheet that can later be imported into InDesign.
That kind of work can eat up a shocking amount of time.
If AI can help me build the Excel structure I need so I can plug that information into InDesign, great. That is a wonderful use of AI. It saves time. It removes drudgery. It gets me past the mechanical part faster.
But let’s be clear about what that means.
It does not mean AI designed the piece.
It means AI helped with the setup.
The design is still the design.
The thinking is still the thinking.
The hierarchy, the pacing, the typography, the judgment, the visual relationships, the choices about what matters and what doesn’t—that still belongs to the human being doing the work.
That is where experience matters.
That is where taste matters.
That is where the real job still lives.
AI Is the Assistant, Not the Boss
I think people get into trouble when they expect AI to be an authority instead of an assistant.
Those are two very different roles.
An assistant can be extremely helpful. An assistant can gather, organize, suggest, draft, structure, and speed things up. An assistant can take care of the repetitive setup so you can focus on the part that actually requires your skill.
But an assistant is not the final decision-maker.
You are.
Or at least, you should be.
That means if AI gives you dates, check them.
If it gives you locations, check them.
If it gives you a calculation, check it.
If it summarizes a source, make sure it actually did so accurately.
If it gives you a spreadsheet, review the logic.
If it gives you something that feels off, trust your instincts enough to pause and look again.
Because if your own common sense is telling you something doesn’t add up, there is an excellent chance that something, in fact, does not add up.
This Is Not an Anti-AI Argument
Quite the opposite.
I use AI because I find it incredibly valuable.
I like tools that help me move faster. I like tools that can reduce repetition. I like tools that can help organize the clutter and save me from wasting creative energy on production drudgery. I like being able to hand off part of the setup work so I can spend more time on the part of the process that actually needs me.
That is a good use of technology.
But the fantasy that AI removes the need for human judgment is just that—a fantasy.
The real value of AI is not that it replaces your mind.
The real value is that it supports your mind.
It gives you a head start.
It helps you move.
It helps you sort through noise.
It can take some of the boring work off your plate.
And then you still have to do the part that matters most:
Think.
So Yes, Use AI—Just Don’t Hand Over Your Brain
That’s really the whole point.
Use it.
Learn it.
Push it.
Let it help you.
Let it save you time.
Let it build the spreadsheet.
Let it help prepare the information.
Let it do some of the repetitive heavy lifting.
But always remember that speed is not the same thing as accuracy, polish is not the same thing as truth, and confidence is not the same thing as correctness.
Sometimes AI will be brilliant.
Sometimes AI will be helpful.
And sometimes AI will look at Oregon and start heading for the East Coast.
That’s your cue.
Check the answer.
Use your own judgment.
And keep your brain fully engaged.
Because the best way to use AI is not to trust it blindly.
It’s to trust it just enough to let it help—and then check its work.
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