Tag: Learning New Skills

A notebook on a wooden desk by a softly lit window, faint glowing words on the page suggesting the shared creativity of human and AI.
Posted in AI and Creativity

What Our Prompts Say About Us and How to Make Them Less Average

Posted on by Mike

I’ve always been fascinated by the small things that give us away, the turn of phrase, the pause before we answer, even the words we choose when talking to an AI. The more time I spend with these systems, the more I realise that prompting isn’t just about getting better answers. It’s about revealing who we are.

Every time we type a prompt, we leave a fingerprint. Some of us sound cautious, others curious. Some write prompts like a conversation, others like an exam question. In that sense, prompting is a kind of mirror, it shows the model what we value, but it also reflects our own habits and imagination right back at us.

So, if our prompts reveal so much about us, what can we do to make them, and the responses they inspire, a little less average?

Continue reading “What Our Prompts Say About Us and How to Make Them Less Average” →
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: 100 Words, Infinite Possibilities

Posted on by Mike

What Is the AI Drabble Challenge?

I’ve always loved the discipline of writing a Drabble (a 100-word story). A Drabble forces you to choose every word with care, no padding, no shortcuts. Now I’m curious: what happens when we invite AI into the process?

Can AI really help us write better stories, or does it simply hold up a mirror to our imagination?

This post launches a brand new weekly AI writing challenge where we explore that question together.

Continue reading “The AI Drabble Challenge: 100 Words, Infinite Possibilities” →
A robot and an old man standing close to each other and staring into teacher others eyes.
Posted in AI and Creativity

When AI Surprises You: The Joy of Unexpected Results

Posted on by Mike

I’ve started to realise that the most interesting moments with AI aren’t the ones that go exactly to plan. They’re the ones that don’t.

You type in what you think is a precise prompt, expecting a predictable outcome and the machine goes completely off script. Sometimes it misses the point spectacularly. Other times, it creates something that feels oddly beautiful.

That’s partly because Large Language Models (LLM’s) like ChatGPT don’t actually understand what they write, they predict the next most likely word or image based on patterns they’ve learned from billions of examples. Every so often, those predictions take a creative detour, and that’s when things get interesting.

Continue reading “When AI Surprises You: The Joy of Unexpected Results” →
Human and robot hands writing together on the same notebook, pen glowing faintly, symbolising collaboration
Posted in AI and Creativity

Can a Machine Write Better Fiction Than Me? Exploring AI and Creativity

Posted on by Mike

For many years, I’ve loved writing flash fiction. One of my favourite forms is the Drabble, a story told in exactly 100 words. The form originated in the 1980s at the Birmingham University SF Society, who adapted a word game from Monty Python’s Big Red Book (1971). That version joked that “Drabble” was a game where the first person to write a novel won. The society found a novel a little ambitious, so they fixed the length to a manageable 100 words, and that rule defines the modern Drabble.

The more I experimented with AI, the more I suspected it could now write a better Drabble than I could, though it still needed my guidance. Let me show you what happened.

Continue reading “Can a Machine Write Better Fiction Than Me? Exploring AI and Creativity” →
A humanoid robot covered in colourful paint sits at an easel, painting with brushes and a palette, symbolising creativity and artificial intelligence.
Posted in AI and Creativity

Falling Down the AI Rabbit Hole: How Curiosity Led Me to Midjourney and ChatGPT

Posted on by Mike

I never meant to fall down the AI rabbit hole.

My curiosity about artificial intelligence really began when I stumbled across Midjourney and ChatGPT. Midjourney appeared in 2022 like a digital paintbrush, allowing anyone to turn words into images, surreal, beautiful, and sometimes downright strange. After trying it out, I was hooked and still use it widely today. In fact, the image that accompanies this post was created by Midjourney. I’ll talk more about AI and image creation in a future post.

Continue reading “Falling Down the AI Rabbit Hole: How Curiosity Led Me to Midjourney and ChatGPT” →