“Before we work on artificial intelligence why don’t we do something about natural stupidity?”
Steve Polyak
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a bit of a Luddite (someone who isn’t comfortable with technology). And yet, I keep having to learn and use technology to publish my books, including AI.
The most common way I use AI is my grammar-proofing programs that search their vast databases to develop recommendations on how to improve my writing. I don’t know what I’d do without them (and yes, I use multiple programs). For instance, I usually get about 100 recommendations for improvement per chapter (2000 words). I don’t accept all their recommendations, but I do use about half (especially punctuation).
I also use AI to develop my audiobooks. My distribution strategy is to go wide (i.e., be available in formats and locations wherever people buy). And since some people only listen to audiobooks, I’ve ensured all my books are available in audiobook format (see my books on Google Play). However, I don’t have enough sales to justify spending thousands of dollars on hiring a voice actor, so I use Google Play’s AI capabilities to convert my books to audio. Doing this has had the unexpected benefit of improving my writing because you can hear problems you don’t see.
Recently, I found another application for AI. My daughter was helping me fix my website, and I needed a picture for my glossaries section (where I have a glossary for each book detailing some of the interesting historical facts in my book). She asked me what I wanted, so I told her I wanted a dragon and books. Seconds later, she added the picture below to my website. It happened so fast that it took me several minutes to realize what she’d done and how she did it. I think it’s amazing.
I’m sure I use AI in other ways, but I don’t recognize it, which makes me wonder how else I’ll use AI.
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