How to tame your AI
Conceptually, AI is a great help, so long as you keep it from becoming your sole provider or getting in the way of whatever you are doing. More on that later. Very much like listening to only one friend's answers, while ignoring the voices of your other friends. Your friends mean well, but they can be wrong at times, or have a bias about certain beliefs affecting the trustworthiness of their answers.
You need more than one AI
So, like friends, don't listen to only one friend; there are lots of AI models out there. Like friends, they tend to have different backgrounds and skill levels for different things. Some can render great pictures from prompts, while others are excellent at breaking down a process into steps. Use more than one AI model, ask the same question to at least two of them. You will be surprised that while, on the surface, they seem to give you the same overall answer, there are subtle differences which can lead to a very different outcome.
The paradox of AI
It is a paradox that AI, an emotion-free process expected to run on strict critical thinking, produces varying outcomes that need to be compared to those of other AI to check credibility. I rarely see advice about not relying on a single AI model; more often than not, the reviews are about features and areas of strength ... images, text, tables, etc. Not about the difference in outcome between models.
When AI gets in the way
For work, we use Google Workspace, which has been good for us. Then Google brought in Gemini and jacked up the price. Not thrilled about paying extra for the new apprentice. Like a new apprentice, because this is what is happening: instead of quietly sitting in a button on the top right of my spreadsheet, which I can call if I want to, it is now invading the spreadsheet with constant suggestions, like "I can make a table for you". No, I don’t want a table. "Let me analyse this data for you". This is my data, I don't want an analysis. It is very disruptive in the workflow. Being that it cannot be turned off, now considering moving to a new work environment, but then, where to go? Microsoft has Copilot, which, like Gemini, also wants to become the captain in command.
This rush to shove AI down our throats will ultimately backfire. Currently, AI models are good for help when needed, but not good enough to engage themselves directly in the workflow. They are disruptive, eat up memory, and are not worth the premium cost.
Don’t let it take over
Do use AI, it is useful, efficient, and can be very helpful as long as you remain the master of all your AI helpers. Stay vigilant and always do a reality check on AI outcome. Don't let it overcome your own thinking process one byte at the time.