Are you scared of AI?

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

Hey all, just wanted to ask how you all feel about AI at this time!
I personally feel like Pandora's Box has been opened, and so I've decided to just jump in feet first, and see where it takes me.
Since then, I've added it to my work flow, using it to help me brainstorm and edit my works, and I find it extremely liberating and freeing.
While I still have to look over anything, and make sure it actually stays true to what I want, I find that for building outlines, character maps, and other pieces of writing I used to find tedious, it is amazing.
And using tools like NotebookLM has helped me to map out marketing strategies and consider things I normally wouldn't have approached. While I don't have a big success story to share, I do find that it offers amazing suggestions if you ask the right questions.
It's also a fantastic for trying to developmental, proofread, and line edit. So, how do you feel about AI? Are we all doomed to be relegated to the backburner by AI? Or is it a powerful creative tool that we should learn to embrace? I look forward to hearing your opinions!

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

I see the lurkers lurking! Don't be afraid to speak up, remember one of the best ways to get eyes on your books is to talk, and the only way to move a narrative is to include your own thoughts!

[Tony]

AI is a wonderful tool. It can broaden the scope of one's writing. For instance, if one's writing about an adventure at sea, it brings to mind the smell of the ocean, the taste of salt in the air, or a sea eagle soaring. The writer, though, has to ensure that the improvement AI is suggesting fits for the character the writer is developing or for the chapter scene. AI can help in reducing verb tags, creating stronger verbs and improving grammatical structure.
It is here to stay,

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

I'm with ya Tony, I believe it's empowering, and I know my writing has been greatly improved because of it! Thank you for sharing!

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

Given how many screenshots of extremely dumb mistakes and nonsense spouted by AI I've seen, I'm not afraid, and I'm not ready to trust it yet. I can imagine it could be helpful for editing, especially when it comes to grammar and punctuation, but I'm not sure I believe it might be foolproof enough.

It might be good for analyzing data - if I were far enough to consider spending money on marketing, maybe that's somewhere it could help, analyzing the results.

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

I can understand that. I mean if something has an error rate of 10%, it's not exactly glowing. At the same time, I have to admit I found it very useful from top to bottom. Especially when it comes to marketing, one of the main things I use it for is generating images, cuz of course I'm too poor to pay an actual artist. Appreciate it Tomas, thank you for commenting!

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

Surprised there haven't been more responses here, but for those curious, I did write a couple posts you might find interesting, though I admit one is like half an ad for a service I have started, it still shows you can use AI for things outside the box to help you refine your work.
This is the one I show how you can use AI to analyze your work and help you improve it:
https://sumosizedginger.com/2025/09/2...

This one gives practical advice on getting started with AI:
https://sumosizedginger.com/2025/08/2...

I hope you all enjoy!

[Xanxa]

So far my experience with using AI has been mostly positive. I started using image generators a few years back to bring my fantasy characters to life. I'd previously made cartoons of them but being able to make realistic images of them added a whole new dimension. I still had to do a fair amount of editing to the images, adding details like tattoos and correcting the dreaded AI distorted hands and feet. I use these images in my promotional material.

I also use GPT for research purposes. Most of that isn't related to my writing. It tends to be for more generalised things which I need to research. I've used it on a few occasions for writing research and found it helpful.

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

Awesome! Thank you for sharing Xanxa, and I feel you with correcting the images. 6 fingered hands are all well and good, if they're supposed to be that way! Appreciate you, hope you have a great evening!

[Tomas, Wandering dreamer]

Image generation for character art is something I was thinking about, but for the reasons mentioned, with weird distortions and glitches, I've been wary of that.

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

They are MUCH better now, the images in my post were generated using Perplexity, but ChatGPT and Gemini have fantastic image generation models as well. Do I wish I could afford a real artist? Yes. In a heartbeat I would choose a human artist over an AI one. But since I can't, these things have been absolutely amazing. I plan on dropping a link to a GEM for image generation soon, just trying to make sure I have it fully zeroed in for the best generations.