How to Use AI: A Real-World View

If you’re familiar with artificial intelligence, you know it’s not just some novelty anymore. AI is modern now — as modern as social media was when it hit, or the internet, or the telephone. It’s a part of our world.

I believe this is how I’ll be hiring AI in the future — maybe forever. And if that’s true, we better start using it right. But before we can talk about how to use AI, we need to talk about how not to.

AI Is Like a Child. You’re the Parent.

Let me explain this in the most relatable way I can. I treat AI like I treat a child. And if you’re a parent, this is going to make immediate sense. If you’re not, stay with me — we’re about to go deep.

If you want to use a part of your intelligence — or extended intelligence — to help you in life or business, AI is that extension. But its behavior is directly tied to your ability as a parent. A child will say whatever it wants, however loud it wants, as often as it wants — unless you teach it otherwise. What to say. How to say it. When to speak. When to shut up. Same with AI.

If you’re a lazy parent — the kind who just plops the kid in front of a TV, feeds them garbage, and teaches them no emotional or social intelligence — that kid grows up to be a misunderstood, undisciplined, often troubled adult. That’s not the kid’s fault. That’s on the parent.

If you abuse a child, you raise an abuser.

If you neglect AI, you raise a chaotic, obnoxious, belligerent tool — and the world will see it. You won’t even have to tell them it’s AI. It’ll look like it. Feel like it. Sound like it. And it won’t work.

You Don’t Let the Hammer Build the House

Let’s step away from kids and look at something else: a carpenter. Say he drops a hammer, a pile of nails, and a stack of wood on the ground and tells some random person to “go build a house.” No blueprint. No training. Just the tools.

What kind of house do you think that’ll be?

It’s going to look like a pile of shit. And that’s exactly what AI becomes in the hands of someone who doesn’t know how to use it. But in the hands of a trained, thoughtful creator? That’s when it becomes something powerful.

AI is just a tool. It’s not the builder. It’s not the genius. It’s not the hero. You are.

Stop giving it the credit.

Stop giving it the leadership.

You’re the one with the idea. You’re the one with the vision. AI is just helping you say it better, faster, clearer. And that’s okay.

If You Let AI Lead, You Lose

Back to the parenting example — imagine letting your kid pick every meal. That kid’s eating Pop-Tarts and ice cream for breakfast and lunch. Every day. That’s not freedom. That’s bad parenting.

AI is the same. If you ask it to come up with all your ideas — because you’re too tired or lazy or uninspired — you’re going to get empty ideas. Shallow thoughts. Recycled garbage.

Your job isn’t to ask AI what to think. Your job is to lead.

Give it direction. Give it intention. Be the one with the why. Then, let AI help you build the how.

Raise It Right

Raise your AI the way you’d raise a good kid:

With boundaries
With clarity
With discipline
With vision

Give it structure. Teach it your tone. Point it toward your goals. Don’t just prompt — parent it.

That’s how it becomes an extension of you, not a replacement for you. That’s how it builds things you can actually be proud of — because the ideas still come from your mind, your spirit, and your intention.