My Week Using AI: Things I Asked the Robots This Week

The little ways AI is threading itself into my day-to-day.

As I sat down to write this week’s newsletter, I found myself scrolling back through the various ways I’d used AI over the past few days — and honestly, I was surprised by how often I’d turned to it. Not for massive research projects or groundbreaking creative breakthroughs (though those happened too), but for the little things: grocery store mysteries, dream interpretations, contract language. It made me realize how much I’ve shifted from defaulting to Google to starting with ChatGPT or Claude instead.

So this week, I thought I’d share a peek into my AI diary — a roundup of the tools, prompts, and use cases that got me through the week. My hope is it’ll spark some ideas for how you might weave AI into your own work or life — whether you're negotiating a contract or just trying to find the Aperol.

What’s the most unexpected way you’ve used AI lately? I’d love to hear it.

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🧾 Business & Professional Development

🧑‍💼 Business Coach
I’m renegotiating a business development contract and trying to fairly outline bonus structures for work I bring in — whether it’s a new client, a new team within an existing organization, or a renewal. I provided AI with a brief summary of the different scenarios and asked for help in framing a fair and clear attribution model. Even with a rough prompt, it gave me solid starting points and language to work with.

🧠 Survey Sounding Board
A philanthropy I’ve worked with asked me to weigh in on trends in the information integrity space via a short survey. I used AI to take my messy brain dump of ideas and help distill them into thoughtful, on-brand responses.

📩 Client Email Whisperer
I received a follow-up email from a potential client requesting pricing for an in-person AI training and examples of the impact from past sessions. I drafted some initial points and then used AI to refine the tone, clarify the structure, and ensure it reached the desired level of polish.

🗓️ Strategic Planning Partner
Coming out of the holiday week, I wanted to assess where I stood on my summer projects — completing my book, expanding the Panic Responsibly merch line, and managing client work. I gave AI a rough list of what was on my plate and asked it to help me map out the next few weeks, taking upcoming travel into account.

📚 Book Coach & Editor
I’ve made significant progress on my book over the past two weeks. AI helped me test out different opening structures and refine my chapter outlines. It was especially useful in identifying patterns and takeaways I hadn’t seen clearly myself. One unexpected gift: it validated lessons I wasn’t sure were “enough” and even pulled deeper themes I hadn’t noticed. Being so close to the story, I couldn’t always see the forest for the trees — AI helped me zoom out.

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👕 Daily Life & Micro-Decisions

📏 Fit Fixer
After losing 40 pounds this past year, many of my clothes no longer fit — including my bras. I used AI to revisit how to properly measure my size and get brand recommendations based on the fit I was looking for.

💪 Home Trainer
Wanting to add more strength training, I asked for a simple home workout plan to tone my arms — no gym membership or fancy equipment required.

🍊 Grocery Store Sleuth
When prepping Aperol Spritzes for our family’s murder mystery night, I couldn’t find the Aperol. I asked ChatGPT where it might be in the store. One of the suggestions? Ask someone. 😆 Fair enough. I also helped my brother and sister-in-law locate crispy fried onions for their hot dog bar. (Pro tip: they’re in the canned vegetable aisle.)

🌙 Dream Decoder
I had a strange dream and asked AI to help interpret it. Was it profound? Debatable. But sometimes you just want a chatbot to help you talk to your subconscious.

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🌸 Style, Scent & Self

🎨 Color Discovery
One of my favorite small businesses, Wild Alabaster, shared a prompt for seasonal color analysis. I uploaded a photo and learned I’m a soft autumn. (It tracks.)

🧴 Signature Scent Starter
Inspired by Wild Alabaster’s dreamy blends, I asked AI how to start crafting my own signature essential oil scent, as it’s something I’ve long wanted to do. It offered tips and even recommended a few books on blending.

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🎄 Family & Fun

🎁 Holiday Theme Generator
Every Christmas, my family does a white elephant gift exchange with a twist. This year, I asked AI to help us brainstorm theme ideas. We landed on “Made for TV” — all gifts must be infomercial classics or TikTok-famous oddities. I can’t wait.

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🤖 Meta-AI (Not that Meta)

I ended the week by trying to get AI to summarize all the ways I’d used AI. It couldn’t. So I went through everything manually… and then used AI to help me organize it.

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💬 Final Thought

AI didn’t do the work for me. But it did help me start faster, see patterns, make decisions, and feel less alone in the process. Whether it was drafting a tricky email or validating an emotional narrative arc, it gave me back something I didn’t expect: a little more trust in my own thinking.

What’s the most unexpected way you’ve used AI lately? I’d love to hear it.

Curious how I actually use AI behind the scenes?
Below the fold, I’m sharing the exact prompts I used this week — from contract negotiation to client emails to creative planning for my book. You’ll see where AI gave me clarity, where I had to rework its suggestions, and a few insights that surprised me. If you’ve ever wondered how to get more out of these tools in real life, this section’s for you.

👉 Upgrade to a paid subscription to get access to this week’s Prompt Pack and behind-the-scenes reflections on how I use AI in work and life.