You’re Using AI Wrong

AI has become a powerful ally in creative processes, revolutionizing how we approach storytelling, art, marketing, and beyond. Tools like ChatGPT excel at analyzing vast datasets, synthesizing knowledge, and generating ideas, helping users gain deeper insights and explore diverse possibilities. When used collaboratively, AI can enhance the quality, originality, and depth of creative work (Urban et al. 28; Haase and Pokutta 5). However, here’s the catch: telling ChatGPT to simply “do your work”—to churn out a blog post, cover letter, or project—is the worst way to use this technology. This approach not only undermines the creative process but also squanders the true potential of AI, reducing it to a shortcut rather than a partner in innovation. If this sounds familiar, you’re likely using AI incorrectly.

The Worst Way to Use AI

For many who are new to AI, the instinct is to simply ask it to “do their work”—to write a blog post, craft a cover letter, or complete a task outright. While this might seem efficient, it’s one of the most counterproductive ways to use this technology. AI-generated content from such directives often ends up generic, uninspired, and devoid of personal nuance. This method undermines the essence of creativity by reducing it to a mechanical process, skipping the reflective, iterative effort necessary for meaningful work.

Research highlights the pitfalls of relying on AI to fully replace human cognitive labor, showing it diminishes both originality and quality (Magni et al. 645). Additionally, by outsourcing the creative process entirely to AI, creators sacrifice the critical human element of personalization, which is essential for resonating authentically with audiences (Ivcevic and Grandinetti 39).

Using AI in this way also leads to broader challenges. Consumers often perceive AI-generated content as less creative, associating it with less effort and emotional involvement (Magni et al. 645). This bias can erode trust in contexts like marketing and communication, where authenticity and personal effort are highly valued (Magni et al. 646). Moreover, over-reliance on AI-generated, cookie-cutter outputs can lead to homogeneity, as similar algorithms yield similar results across users, stifling diversity and potentially alienating audiences (Urban et al. 28).

Maximizing Creative Value from AI

To fully unlock the creative potential of AI, it is essential to treat it as a collaborative partner rather than a mere tool or a replacement for human creativity. Research underscores the value of this partnership in enhancing creativity by generating fresh ideas, refining solutions, and sparking innovative approaches. For instance, tools like ChatGPT and other generative AI systems excel at analyzing complex data, generating diverse ideas, and helping structure content. However, the final creative vision and emotional nuance must come from human creators to ensure the outputs resonate authentically with audiences (Ivcevic and Grandinetti 39; Urban et al. 28).

Leveraging AI for Ideation and Exploration

AI is particularly effective in rapid ideation and exploring multiple creative possibilities. This capability allows creators to test variations of ideas, such as alternative designs or narratives, quickly and efficiently. By pushing creative boundaries, AI enables experimentation with unconventional concepts that traditional methods might overlook, fostering innovation and saving time during the early stages of the creative process (Mazzone and Elgammal 40).

Roleplaying

AI contributes most effectively to creativity when it is assigned specific roles in the process. Common roles include idea generator, where AI brainstorms innovative concepts; audience simulator, which offers evaluative feedback from a defined perspective; and draft reviewer, capable of identifying gaps or opportunities for improvement. These defined roles allow AI to complement human ingenuity by providing structure and feedback, while leaving humans in charge of final decisions and personalization (Magni et al. 645; Haase and Pokutta 5).

Iterative Refinement

Generic AI outputs often lack the emotional depth and originality necessary to connect with audiences. Personalization through iterative refinement is critical to unlocking AI’s full creative potential. Research shows that creators who use AI to develop multiple drafts and refine them iteratively achieve results that are more personalized, impactful, and aligned with their vision. This iterative process integrates human insight, ensuring that outputs are both meaningful and contextually appropriate (Pagani and Wind 7).

Enhancing Collaboration and Self-Efficacy

Research further highlights that viewing AI as a co-creator rather than an editor significantly improves creative outcomes. When humans and AI collaborate dynamically—shaping the creative direction together and building iteratively—the process nurtures greater self-efficacy. This approach fosters motivation, improvisation, and a sense of ownership over the final product, which are essential components of effective creativity (McGuire, De Cremer, and Van de Cruys 2). The synergy between human intuition and AI capabilities leads to richer, more innovative outputs than either could achieve alone (Urban et al. 5).

Example:

Recently, I faced the challenge of writing an important document. Instead of instructing ChatGPT to “write this document,” I approached the task as a collaborative process. First, I activated advanced voice mode and asked ChatGPT to play the role of a “reporter.” I provided specific goals and framed the task as crafting a magazine article about me. Over the next hour and a half, I answered the AI reporter’s questions, building a rich dataset to form the basis of my first draft. With this information, I asked ChatGPT to create a draft using a format and outline I had carefully designed.

The initial draft was far from final. I spent more than a day editing it, making the content deeply personal and aligned with my voice. Then, I took the process a step further by asking ChatGPT to adopt the perspective of one of the document’s intended readers. I provided a detailed profile, including the audience’s known traits and examples of their work, and requested feedback on my draft based on specific criteria. This iterative process was repeated with multiple personas, each providing unique insights that helped me refine the document further.

After integrating their feedback, I asked the AI personas to review the revised draft again. The cycle continued until I received consistent 10/10 ratings from all the fictional personas, indicating that the document was polished to perfection. This entire process demanded significantly more effort than if I had written the document alone.

The result was undeniably better: the document was hyper-personalized, resonating deeply with its intended audience and included perspectives and possibilities I would never have considered on my own.

The Takeaway

AI is not a shortcut to creativity. If used properly, it’s not ‘cheating’. Rather, it’s a catalyst that can push your ideas further than you could alone. The real power of AI lies in collaboration: using it to explore new perspectives, refine your work iteratively, and uncover possibilities you might never have imagined. By assigning AI specific roles, such as idea generator or audience simulator, and staying deeply involved in the creative process, you can produce results that are not only more impactful but also uniquely personal.

The key is balance. When you pair your intuition, emotional intelligence, and personal vision with AI’s ability to process vast data and generate ideas, you unlock a synergy that transforms creative challenges into opportunities for innovation. Those who embrace this co-creative approach will redefine what’s possible, leveraging AI not as a replacement, but as a partner in creativity.

Disclosure: This article was written with assistance from ChatGPT as part of a collaborative process. I used ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas, refine structure, and summarize research. My process involved outlining the article’s key points, iterating on drafts with feedback from ChatGPT, and incorporating its suggestions into my voice and style. Every section was carefully reviewed to ensure the final piece aligns with my perspective.

Sources:

Arora, Neeraj, Ishita Chakraborty, and Yohei Nishimura. “AI–Human Hybrids for Marketing Research: Leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) as Collaborators.” Journal of Marketing, vol. 89, no. 2, 2025, pp. 1–28.

Haase, Jennifer, and Sebastian Pokutta. “Human-AI Co-Creativity: Exploring Synergies Across Levels of Creative Collaboration.” Weizenbaum Institute and Humboldt University, Nov. 2024.

Ivcevic, Zorana, and Mike Grandinetti. “Artificial Intelligence as a Tool for Creativity.” Journal of Creativity, vol. 34, 2024, pp. 39–50.

Mazzone, Marian, and Ahmed Elgammal. “Art, Creativity, and the Potential of Artificial Intelligence.” Arts, vol. 8, no. 1, 2019, pp. 26–40.

McGuire, Jack, David De Cremer, and Tim Van de Cruys. “Establishing the Importance of Co-Creation and Self-Efficacy in Creative Collaboration with Artificial Intelligence.” Scientific Reports, vol. 14, 2024, p. 18525.

Urban, Marek, et al. “ChatGPT Improves Creative Problem-Solving Performance in University Students: An Experimental Study.” Computers & Education, vol. 215, 2024, p. 105031.

Pagani, Mark, and Jerry Wind. “Unlocking Marketing Creativity Using AI.” Journal of Marketing Innovation, vol. 3, 2024, pp. 1–12.