How to Work With AI

Written By Ellen Wallage

Let me start off by saying: I do not love AI. In fact, I wish it didn’t exist.

Technology this powerful, unleashed onto an unsuspecting public without real checks or accountability, is dangerous. What people like Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg have done is reckless, visionary, maybe, but reckless. But in stealing from all of us, importantly the best of us, they have unleashed this tsunami that we need to try to work out how we integrate with and build upon.

The morality of those decisions will be their legacy. I just hope the roll of the dice is a lucky one for humanity. What I’m going to be discussing here, is how to make it work for each of us individually, to really in’sand i cannot say I don’t love what I can do with it.

But here’s the paradox: I can’t deny what I can do with it. I don’t love that AI exists, but I love what I can make with it. It’s extraordinary. It offers limitless creative potential. And that’s what I want to focus on here: not the ethics of its release, but how each of us can use it in a way that actually serves our creativity, our work, and our humanity.

PERSPECTIVE

Don’t try to understand AI through a pre-AI lens. If you imagine it as just another “app” or gadget, you’ll miss its potential. The minute you let yourself invent new processes, you stop being blinkered and start seeing what’s possible.

With AI The only thing holding you back here is your imagination.

HUMAN + MACHINE

The magic is not in AI replacing you. The magic is in you editing, shaping, steering it. AI is not coming to take your job. Humans using AI are. That’s the shift. The people who learn to integrate it will move faster, go further. Those who ignore it risk being left behind. And no, it’s not your fault this technology exists. But it is here, it is real, and the sooner you adapt, the more agency you’ll have.

COLLABORATION

AI isn’t a single tool; it’s a whole set of tools. Even one system can do multiple functions. Each one brings something different to the party. The more you play with them, challenge them, try to bend them, the more you’lll see what they are good at.

The best way to work with all AI models is like playing creative ping pong. You lead the dance, you serve the ball, and it comes back with a spin you didn’t expect. That’s where the breakthroughs happen.

Al is not yet a shortcut for craft, taste, or judgment. Use it to spar with. It will sharpen your thinking, as long as you don’t let it do the thinking for you.

THE RIGHT PROMPT

The real trick is learning how to ask. Get the language model to help you write prompts, it knows how it understands itself. But never accept the first attempt. Refine, test, push it further. Treat prompts like sketches: rough drafts you’ll polish.

ITERATION

The first output is very rarely the best. Don’t stop there. Push it. Remix. Feed it back into itself. AI isn’t a “one-click solution”; it’s a sketchbook that never runs out of pages. You have to be persistent and stubborn to make it do what you want it to do.

Also, it’s not just words. There’s image, video, sound, even code. Each discipline brings new opportunities. The real power comes when you start linking them together. So do that and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

LIES

AI “hallucinations” are just a polite way of saying it lies. And it lies with conviction. It will give you the wrong answer while sounding absolutely right. That’s why you can be fooled.  Always, always triple-check your research before you use it. Don’t take its word for anything. Remember: it’s a brilliant improviser, not a trustworthy fact-checker. This means more than just a quick Google search. Use reverse image search tools like Google Lens or TinEye to find the original source of an image. For text, cross-reference key facts with at least three reputable sources (e.g., academic papers, established news outlets, government data)

BIAS

AI is trained on human data, which means it inherits human prejudice. It reflects culture back at us, the good and the ugly. If you use it uncritically, you risk reinforcing the very biases you’d never consciously support.

That means we, as users, carry some responsibility. Not just to make shiny things with it, but to use it with awareness.

And be aware, even well-intentioned AI use can perpetuate systemic inequalities because the models fundamentally encode whose perspectives matter most. i.e. to some extent they reflect back who built them. To counter this, actively diversify your prompts. If you're generating images of a CEO, also ask for images of a CEO who is a woman, or of different ethnicities. If you're generating content about a social issue, use prompts that seek out multiple perspectives, including dissenting or marginalized views. Don't just accept the default output; challenge it to be more inclusive."

SURVIVAL

Build AI Literacy: Learn the basics. Don’t be mystified by the smoke and mirrors. Stay Playful: If you stop experimenting, you stop discovering. Know When Not to Use It: Some projects need your raw, unfiltered human voice. Respect that.

ALSO More literacy means you can spot misuse by others. The positive side effect is that you will begin to recognise deepfakes and AI-generated misinformation, identify when content feels artificially generated. So you cab question sources that seem too polished or generic

Consequently becoming a more discerning consumer, you’ll begin to feel when human expertise is still essential. Plus the speed ai can give you can undermine the slow, deliberative processes that produce our best work and most thoughtful decisions

But be aware, as AI improves, the gap between human detection abilities and AI deception capabilities will likely widen, not narrow.

CLOSING

Every AI-generated image or text is built on the uncredited labor of millions of creators who never consented to train these systems. It is always good to remember that. It was unleashed recklessly. That choice wasn’t Yours. But how you work with it and think about it is. You can use it as a crutch, or as a catalyst. You can let it flatten creativity, or let it open new doors. You can let it guide you or you can spar with it. You can let it think for you or you can be a critical thinker. 

Think of AI not as a magic lamp that grants wishes, but as a forge. It provides the raw materials and immense heat, but you are still the one who must shape the metal

The only guarantee is this: the more intentional you are with it, responsible, playful, human, the more likely you’ll be able to navigate it.

Ellen Wallage
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