things AI is weirdly good at that nobody talks about.
the conversation is always about what AI can’t do or what it gets wrong. I want the other list. what are the things you’ve found AI genuinely useful for that surprised you?
explaining something I already know to a different audience. I understand a concept well enough to use it but not well enough to explain it simply. ask AI to explain it at three different levels and then use the clearest parts of each. faster than writing the explanation from scratch.
making a decision I’ve already made feel more justified. not asking it to decide for me, asking it to explain why the thing I’ve already decided is a reasonable choice. it’s very good at this. I’m not sure that’s entirely healthy but it’s useful.
rubber duck debugging but more responsive. explaining a problem to AI and having it ask clarifying questions is sometimes enough to make me see the answer before it gives one. the act of explaining it to something that responds is different from explaining it to something that just listens.
mine is writing the thing I’m dreading writing.
not writing it for me. writing a bad first draft that I have to fix. if I sit down to write something I don’t want to write, I can’t start. if I ask AI to write a version that’s clearly not right and then correct it, I can get to a finished piece in half the time.
the bad AI draft removes the blank page problem. I can disagree with something much more easily than I can generate something from nothing. the AI gives me something to push against and I do the actual writing by pushing.
I’ve finished four pieces this year that I’d been avoiding for months using this approach.
the bad-draft approach is one I’ve started recommending to students who have trouble starting. the psychological barrier of the blank page is real. having something to react to is a different cognitive task from having to generate.