How I Currently Use AI in My Creative Process

I started playing around with AI and machine learning about five years ago. It’s wild to think about now, but ChatGPT wasn't even public yet! Back then, it felt more like a novelty—something fun to just test out and play. Today, it has evolved into something genuinely powerful that I find immensely useful as a creator.

Before we dive into all the details, let me make one big thing clear: I don’t use AI to generate my ideas, creative prompts, my words, or my art. Everything published at chellestein.com is straight out of my own brain. In fact, much of the old content you see here was used to train AI to come up with all the amazing ideas it does!

Instead, I use it in some incredibly practical ways that keep me productive and organized, especially when I have a million different projects and ideas floating around in my head.

Some of the Ways I Use AI:

#1. As a Micro Journaling Platform

I started journaling with Gemini and Claude and found the conversational nature of the platforms woke up a different part of my brain and unlocked a whole new set of memories. You feel like you're talking to your notebook like a good old friend and it brings me back to those old late night chats on IRC and AOL instant messenger when you'd try to figure out life with one of your friends or even a total stranger.

#2. A Sounding Board and Editor for Blog Posts

I don't use AI to generate blog posts, but I do use it to help me edit and structure them. I write or paste a list of bullet points or paragraphs I've written into Gemini and from there we can quickly summarize sections, tighten up creative rambling into cohesive sentences and make sure transitions between ideas flow.

Gemini also helps with the usual things like spelling, typos, grammar, etc. Instead of me manually fixing every single mistake, it does the whole post in one click. Saving time = more time to write!

#3. Fact-Checking and Research

While you always have to verify what AI outputs, most of the time it is accurate enough that it can pull up a source for me without me even having to describe it in great detail. Sometimes it even finds unique things for me I didn't even know existed, like this 1999 "House Hippo" video educating television viewers what you see on TV is not always real! (It even has a cat, AI knows me so well lol)

#4. Self Analysis

Because I've integrated AI into a lot of my workflow, it can go back into our chat logs and instantly recognize patterns. This is really powerful! Things I may not have noticed or forgotten about aren't lost, they're ready to fork into new ideas.

I'm a very introspective person by nature and I love getting more insight into why I do the things I do and certain thought patterns. AI is fantastic for this!

AI is also very good at analyzing art. I uploaded some work for it to give feedback on and it was like getting a personalized reading into my soul. Obviously, AI is not any kind of divination tool, but it can give insights into things like mood, color and even how the weight of a line might be a metaphor for the weight of things you are carrying or feeling strongly about something.

#5. Building a Personal Library and Archiving Records

I’m currently using Gemini to help me build a private digital database (a personal dictionary/emcyclopedia of sorts) to archive my own records, concepts, and images. It helps me categorize my messy brain so that years of thoughts are easily searchable and structured.

#6. Navigating Technical Details

Setting up things like Google search console, moving hundreds of posts from hundreds of WP sites to Ghost, figuring out how to manage emails - all of this is easy with Gemini. While the platform can't do everything, it can give me little bite sized step by step tips so the technical stuff is out of the way and I can focus more on being creative.

#7. Analog to Digital

With AI's help, I've been able to develop a system where I can drop in pictures of handwritten notes and artwork and turn it into a polished, actionable project. A few scribbled notes in my journal can become a full-fledge book without a lot of heavy lifting. Best of all? It's still my own, unique work. AI just makes it easier to share.

#8. As a Game Design Partner

I love designing and coming up with games and activities, so naturally I've tested this with AI as well. It's fascinating for me to start with a basic idea and use the chat to rapidly prototype how the game would function logically. It’s like having a game-design buddy available 24/7 to help me test everything before anything is ever built.

#9. Gaining Insight into Poems and Song Lyrics

I've been writing song lyrics since I was 12 years old. I never use AI output for songs I record, but instead use it to look at the bigger picture. I love pasting a verse to see what patterns it recognizes in my writing, or asking for fresh insights into the underlying themes and emotional weight of the piece. It helps me make sure the overall mood and lyrics match what I want the listener to experience.

I'm sure as AI evolves, so will this list! But I wanted to give you some ideas for things that can be done with AI. If you've been in a creative slump or just need some help organizing a project, this is immensely powerful stuff to work with!

And of course, if you're using AI, I would love to see what you're doing with it! Share your thoughts in the comments below!