Tag: artificial-intelligence

A friendly-but-weird AI robot made of letters and punctuation holding a tiny 100-word story.
Posted in The AI Drabble Challenge

The AI Drabble Challenge – Week #4: Two Images

Posted on by Mike

Welcome back to the AI Drabble Challenge, a weekly experiment in human and AI creativity. Each Wednesday, I set a prompt to inspire a Drabble, a story told in exactly 100 words.

You can use any AI model you like (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or others), or several at once. How you collaborate is up to you. Maybe the AI drafts the first version, or writes the whole thing, maybe you co-write, or maybe you use it to spark ideas. What matters is the process, and sharing it.

This Week’s Prompt

This week’s prompt is two unrelated images.

Image 1:

Image 2:

Use either or both images to create your Drabble. Remember: exactly 100 words, no more, no less.

How to Take Part

  1. Write your 100-word Drabble with help from an AI tool (or two).
  2. Post your story in the comments, or publish it on your own website and include a pingback to this post.
  3. If you can, share which AI model(s) you used and the prompt that started your process, we can all learn from each other.

Community & Highlights

Each week, I’ll read through the entries, share a few favourites, and highlight one that particularly stood out, for originality, style, or the inventive way it used AI.

This isn’t about competition; it’s about curiosity, experimentation, and celebrating how humans and machines can create together.

A Closing Thought

AI gives us the tools, but we give it meaning. Let’s see what stories emerge this week, 100 words at a time.

Your Turn!

Now it’s over to you, can you craft your own 100-word Drabble inspired by this week’s prompt.

Post your story in the comments below or link to your own blog, I love seeing the imaginative twists readers come up with. So don’t be shy, join in and show us what your AI + Your Imagination can do!

New to the challenge? Visit The AI Drabble Challenge Page for all the details and past prompts.

An open notebook and a laptop side by side on a wooden desk, symbolising human creativity and AI working together.
Posted in AI and Creativity

Why Some Writers Feel Uneasy About AI

Posted on by Mike

Every time I post something involving AI, I know what’s coming. A few writers(often my writer friends) will tell me, quite firmly, that they’ll never touch AI “with a barge pole.” Others worry that using it might dull the human brain, or that writing with its help feels like cheating, like handing in someone else’s homework. Some say it produces “soulless” words, and that real writing should only ever come from real people.

And honestly, I understand every one of those feelings. Writing is deeply personal. It’s how we make sense of the world, and of ourselves. When we sit down to write, it’s our emotions, memories and imagination that shape the story. So when a machine suddenly enters that creative space, it can feel like an intruder, a cold, logical guest who doesn’t understand what it means to struggle for the right word or to feel that spark of inspiration.

Continue reading “Why Some Writers Feel Uneasy About AI” →
AI Creativity Myths Busted
Posted in AI and Creativity

AI Creativity Myths Busted

Posted on by Mike

The light, chatty truth behind what AI can, and can’t, really do.

There’s a lot of chatter out there about artificial intelligence and creativity.
Depending on who you ask, AI is either a genius, a fraud, or a polite little assistant who can’t draw hands.

So today I thought I’d tackle a few of the biggest myths about AI and creativity, the ones that seem to cause the most panic and the loudest pub arguments. Don’t worry, this isn’t a lecture. Think of it as a chat over a cuppa about what really happens when humans and algorithms start co-creating.

Continue reading “AI Creativity Myths Busted” →
Half a vintage typewriter and half a modern laptop
Posted in AI and Creativity

Can You Tell Who Wrote These Drabbles – Me or the Machine?

Posted on by Mike

I’ve decided to make today’s post a little challenge. Below are five 100-word stories, Drabbles. Three were written by AI, and two were written by me before I ever discovered AI. They are from my book, ‘Tiny Stories’.

Back then, I thought every twist, pause and line break came from my own head. Now, I’m not so sure where “my” voice ends and “its” begins, which makes this experiment all the more fun.

Continue reading “Can You Tell Who Wrote These Drabbles – Me or the Machine?” →
An older man smiling thoughtfully at a laptop, a glowing question mark reflected in his glasses, symbolising curiosity and learning.
Posted in AI and Creativity

The 10-Second Curiosity Rule

Posted on by Mike

If you’re puzzled by AI for more than ten seconds, ask it why, not how.

When I first started experimenting with AI, I treated it like a tricky gadget I couldn’t quite figure out. I’d type a prompt, get an odd or unhelpful reply, and then immediately start searching online for “how to fix it.” Half the time I’d end up buried in articles about neural networks, transformer models and training data, interesting, yes, but about as helpful as reading a car’s engineering manual when all you want to do is drive.

Over time, I realised something simple: AI doesn’t reward those who understand every detail of how it works, it rewards those who stay curious. Every mistake, every odd answer, every unexpected twist in a conversation is an opportunity to ask why rather than how.

That’s how the 10-Second Curiosity Rule began. It came from one of those slightly exasperating moments when ChatGPT gave me an answer that made no sense at all. My first instinct was to sigh and close the laptop. But I stopped myself, took a breath, counted to ten, and asked, “Why did you say that?”

Continue reading “The 10-Second Curiosity Rule” →