AI is a Tool but is it Useful?

Recently, I experimented with AI to see what it could do. Most of what I found was disappointing, though a few things were useful. I’ll start with the good: running my writing through an AI editor helps me see it from a different perspective, and a second set of eyes is always valuable. Next, I turned a photograph into a poster styled like a 1960s B movie. The results were terrible—the art, copy, and font choices were painful to look at.

Result of AI prompts to create a film poster from a photo.

For my third test, I asked AI to create a fun map showing what a Disneyland Texas might look like, and this is what it produced. The artificial intelligence gave me what I requested, but it did so by pulling from existing sources, rearranging information, and reformulating the result. It did not truly create; it only recombined. AI can offer structure and rhythm, but it cannot replace original creation. That is why AI is a useful tool, not a replacement. New tools will always emerge. Most will be improvements, and only a few will be truly revolutionary. Let me end with a story.

AI delivered this cliche filled ‘fun map’ of Disneyland Texas.

When I started at WDI, the computer was housed in a dedicated room with a raised floor and large machines lining the walls.

I remember stepping into that computer room at WDI. You had to step up because the floor concealed the systems beneath it. The machines filled the room with a low whirring sound, and spinning magnetic tape reels lined the walls. Years would pass before Apple introduced the desktop, Mac. Then one day, there was a knock at my office door, and a technician delivered one to me.

Big. bulky and imposing was this Mac desktop system.

The IT person unboxed and set up the equipment. When he finished, I asked, “What is this for?” He replied, “I don’t know. I just deliver it. It’s set up; what you do with it is up to you.” Those words have stayed with me. Today, as we look at artificial intelligence, we are asking the same question: what will we really use it for? In 10, 15, or 20 years, AI may seem quaint and outdated, and we may already be talking about the tool that replaces it.