How I Use Artificial Intelligence (And Did I Use AI to Write This?!)
Whether you’re a fan of it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay—and it’s actually been around for quite a while. You might be using it daily without even realising it! Take Xero, for example. It’s been quietly using AI behind the scenes to make our lives easier, especially when reconciling bank accounts. Let’s say you’ve made a purchase at Tradepaints and coded it to “Cost of Sales” with standard VAT. The next time you make a payment to Tradepaints, Xero’s AI remembers and suggests the same account and VAT rate. Pretty handy, right? Of course, AI isn’t perfect. Sometimes, you might have exceptions—like buying something VAT-exempt from Tradepaints—and that’s where us humans come in to make sure everything checks out.
ChatGPT: My Go-To AI Tool
If you’re not using ChatGPT yet, you’re missing out on something amazing. I’ve been using it more and more over the past year, both for business and personal tasks. A quick story—last year, I told a friend (who runs a successful business) about it while we were on holiday. He’d never heard of it! But as soon as he got back to the office, he started using it for HR and employment contracts right away.
Here are just a few things I’ve used ChatGPT for recently:
- Drafting a complaint letter to an energy company.
- Researching how the UK-Spain Double Taxation Treaty applies to pensions.
- Getting help with a transcript for a video I wanted to record.
- Uploading audio and getting a written summary in seconds.
- Creating a packing list for my trip to Peru (it even took into account different weather conditions!).
- Comparing two profit-and-loss reports, with insights on expense accounts.
- Writing a poem for my 60th birthday (yep, ChatGPT’s got skills!).
- Turning a blog post into a punchy social media post.
- Crafting a payroll process for a client.
It’s become my go-to for kickstarting blog ideas or social media posts when I’m just not feeling creative. The more details you give it, the better the results—and I’ve found it really helpful when I ask it to prompt me with extra questions.
One of my favourite features? I can ask ChatGPT to rewrite something in a different tone, depending on who I’m talking to. It can even be written in a pirate style if you’re feeling playful!
AI in Photos: A Whole Lot of Fun!
Now, let’s talk about something even more fun—photo AI. My new Google Pixel phone has some incredible AI-powered photo tools. I can add rainbows to photos, remove those pesky cranes from cityscapes, and even insert myself into group photos (because, why not?)
Here are a few examples:
I added a rainbow to a beautiful photo I took in Cusco, Peru ……….
I removed a crane from a scenic shot of Edinburgh…….
And yes, I even snuck myself into a group photo I wasn’t in!
AI has become such a big part of my daily life, in so many different ways. What about you? What’s your favourite way to use AI? Let me know—I’m always looking for new ideas!
(And in answer to my first question, did I use ChatGPT for this post? Well, that would be saying wouldn’t it!).
