Green Shoots: Artificial intelligence, efficiency, and the space for creativity

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Using artificial intelligence (AI) can feel like having a superhero sidekick—if your superhero is really good at remembering schedules but occasionally has a meltdown over the word “banana.” Imagine this: you’re trying to have a serious conversation with your virtual assistant about your grocery list, and it suddenly turns your request for “eggs, milk, and bread” into “eggs, a giraffe, and a funky chicken.” 

Thanks, AI, but I’ll save the zoo trip for another day.

In the workplace, AI tools can analyse data at lightning speed, which is great—until they start making suggestions that leave everyone scratching their heads. Picture this: you tell your AI to generate some marketing content, and it comes back with a passionate 300-word manifesto on the virtues of pineapple on pizza. While I appreciate the bold stance, I’m not sure that’s quite what our audience is craving.

Then there are chatbots, those digital helpers popping up on websites to answer your questions. They’re usually super eager, which is fantastic—until you ask something simple, like, “Can I return this?” and get an explanation about the history of the umbrella. I love a good trivia session as much as the next person, but there’s a time and place.

AI can also demystify complex calculations—they can crunch numbers like they’re training for the Olympics. But if you’ve ever watched an AI struggle with basic math while you half-heartedly cheer it on, you know the struggle is real when it triumphantly declares that two plus two equals “cats”.

 In the end, using AI is a bit like using a smart toaster. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, it decides to give you toast that’s slightly burnt, just to keep you on your toes.But we wouldn’t trade our quirky, computational companions for the world—they make life a little bit funnier.’

Now before you start boycotting Green Shoots, the writing in parenthesis above is

generated by AI. I typed in an instruction for a humorous take on using AI, and I got this within 10 seconds. Impressive, but the piece feels a little soulless, don’t you think? 

The jokes are quite generic, and don’t really align with my personality. I’m told that you can feed the machine examples of your writing style and other profile information and AI will learn how to be you.

So I’m taking the leap and have begun my tutelage. I write a lot of reports in my line of work, and many of them are about compliance with requirements demanded by my operating framework. There’s not a lot of creativity involved, so perhaps AI may be able to help me spend less time doing those mundane tasks.

I have to get over my discomfort with relying on writing that I haven’t generated myself. 

Recently I asked AI to write a proposal in response to a terms of reference. It did another generic job, and I wasn’t able to simply submit its offering as is. It did help though, to get over that ‘blank page’ thing where you struggle to start writing – it might work for writer’s block. I am yet to be convinced that AI can capture the essence of the message you want to convey. The proposal I submitted in the end was a unique description of what my organisation has to offer, and I am hoping that the personal commitment to the assignment is reflected in that.

I also like the creativity writing allows me – it’s like offering something to the world that wasn’t made in a factory.

Nevertheless, I’ll be a good student and learn the AI ropes. We have to, don’t we, for fear of being left behind. And if AI can deal with the mundane, I’ll have more time for the creative things in life, like Green Shoots.