Tag: ChatGPT

Posted in The AI Drabble Challenge

When Two Images Became a Story

Posted on by Mike

An experiment in AI rewriting, reflection, and creative growth.

This week’s AI Drabble Challenge began with a simple idea: combine two images and ask an AI to tell a story. I’ve used images before as creative sparks, but this time I wanted to see what would happen if I merged two, not just visually, but emotionally.

The result was a story that didn’t just emerge from AI; it evolved through it. What started as a neat 100-word piece became something richer, deeper, and strangely more human.

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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.

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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.

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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?”

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Curiosity keeps us young. Here’s why AI rewards the curious — and why asking “What if?” might just be your real superpower.
Posted in AI and Creativity

When Did Curiosity Become a Superpower?

Posted on by Mike

People say curiosity killed the cat, but I think it made the cat smarter.

Every time I open a new AI tool, I’m reminded that curiosity isn’t something we grow out of, it’s something we grow back into. It keeps us young, alert, and adaptable in a world that refuses to stand still. The moment we stop asking questions is the moment we stop learning. Curiosity isn’t about knowing everything; it’s about wanting to understand, to try and make sense of.

When I first started playing with AI, I didn’t have a grand plan. I just wanted to see what it could do. One question became ten, ten became a hundred, and before I knew it, I’d fallen down the most fascinating rabbit hole of my life.

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