Be real, Mai. Is Chat writing these posts?
No one has actually asked me this, but I know we’re all skeptics these days. Personally, I’m still mourning the loss of em dashes. I’ve always loved how much impact that little line holds.
This post shares my unfiltered thoughts on how I use ChatGPT effectively, ethically, and intelligently. I wrote it before the Time Magazine Person of the Year announcement for AI architects and am feeling pretty hip and relevant 😉
—
When the ChatGPT buzz first started, I was in a brand-new relationship with an “IT guy.” At the time, I chalked his excitement up to his profession. He was the first person I knew who actually played around with it, writing funny birthday raps and asking it increasingly unhinged questions just to see what would happen.
I toe-dipped in, mostly with meal planning and workout ideas. I confidently declared I would never use it in a professional or academic context. It scared me to think that writing, a pillar of my natural skillset, could be replaced so easily.
Fast forward to the final stretch of my Master’s capstone. I was working full time in healthcare during the pandemic, navigating my dad’s hospital care, and trying to meet the expectations of an incredibly diligent (read: tough) advisor. The capstone required what felt like endless reiterations of the same information, and I was completely done, burnt out, and ready to give up.
Out of desperation, I asked Chat for tiny writing prompts, just enough to get me unstuck while maintaining a strict ethical approach. It saved my master’s and my sanity, giving me momentum, not answers.
I now understood how I could leverage a tool like this and use it in a way that aligned with how I already work: pragmatic, values-driven, and thoughtful. It wasn’t replacing my thinking. It was supporting it, an evolution of sometimes annoying but generally helpful Microsoft Clippy.
Applying my ethical, logical, and critical lenses, AI became a time-saving, cognitive-load-supporting, meltdown-preventing aide that helped me save energy for the work that actually matters.
What I use ChatGPT for
Grammar, clarity, and polish
I’m an avid writer, and I won’t pretend it doesn’t sting to see a core skill feel at risk of becoming redundant. That said, I’m self-aware enough to recognize that my syntax and succinctness can always improve.
I don’t use it for everyday writing like this blog, emails, or personal communications. I do ask for a review when writing professionally and academically to check grammar, logic, and concision. By that point, the work is 99 percent done. I consider it due diligence for the sake of the reader.
I also use it as a brainstorming partner when I’m sense-making. Not to tell me what to think, but to help me articulate what I already know before I take it to humans.
Life admin and structure
My brain is busy. Some days, so much so that I freeze. I’m deeply motivated and ambitious, but I routinely set expectations that are… optimistic.
Chat helps me build meal plans based on my dietary needs, review schedules, and optimize time blocking across workouts, school, job hunting, puppy training, social life, and the general chaos of being a person. It also helps me get more out of tools I already use. There are game-changing features in apps like Outlook and OneNote that most of us never touch.
A hybrid human + AI thinking model
One of the ways I find ChatGPT most useful is as part of a hybrid model, where AI supports analysis but doesn’t replace human judgment. I’ll use it to filter, sort, and categorize information or considerations quickly, especially when there’s a lot of noise.
That frees up my time and mental energy for what requires a human lens: nuance, complexity, historical context, relationship dynamics, and identifying gaps that aren’t obvious in the data alone. Ethically, that human layer is critical. It’s how I make sure information is being interpreted accurately, relevantly, and responsibly.
AI helps me move faster through low-value tasks, but the analysis, meaning-making, and recommendations remain very much human-led. In systems where time, funding, and capacity are always constrained, AI can help us show up more prepared and thoughtful, even when formal supports are limited.
Finally, there is potential for accuracy errors on both AI and human sides. Using them in tandem may be our best chance at getting it right.
Personal reviews and decision-making
Chat is built on the collective knowledge of the internet, including reviews. I use it to research purchasing options, clarify what matters to me, and make decisions more efficiently. It doesn’t decide for me, but it helps me find what I need faster.
Checking for blind spots
Before submitting something important, I’ll ask prompts like:
“Are there biases of mine coming through here?”
It’s a useful critical-thinking step that challenges my assumptions and helps me strengthen my case. I’ve always taken the approach of identifying my end result and walking myself backwards from there. Chat helps me predict barriers or challenges I can mitigate from the start.
What I don’t use it for
I don’t use it to write for me. My voice, my thinking, and my lived experience are the value. I’ve put a lot of time and energy into honing my skills, and I want to keep them sharp and genuine.
I don’t take anything it produces at face value. Chat may be confident, but it is often inaccurate or misleading. This means applying critical thinking at all times and doing real due diligence by checking sources and stepping outside the app.
I don’t use it to avoid learning. If I’m building a new skill, I want to understand it, retain it, and master it. This was especially relevant during my recent coding course, where I used Chat step by step to learn how to do things properly and then practiced beyond that support.
I don’t use it to replace human judgment, context, or leadership. It doesn’t know my organization, the network of people I’m working within, or the emotional and political realities of my work. I also recognize the absolute necessity of protecting sensitive information and always remove identifying details.
Why I love it. And why I don’t.
I love ChatGPT because it helps me work with my brain instead of against it. It reduces friction, supports learning, and gives me back energy I can spend on high-value, deeply human work.
I’m cautious because tools are only as ethical and effective as the people using them. I’m wary of how quickly AI outputs can be mistaken for truth, neutrality, or completeness when they’re none of those things.
For me, the goal isn’t efficiency at all costs. It’s clarity, integrity, and sustainability. Used thoughtfully, AI doesn’t replace good work. It makes space for it.
Living work-adjacent 