Learning to Live with the Machine: My Shift in Thinking About AI

Okay, hear me out.

Remember when you were a kid watching The Terminator for the first time? The whole “Skynet goes live and wipes out humanity” thing? And then the sequels came out—up to T3 anyway—and suddenly there was this whole subculture around the fear of machines taking over the world. That idea stuck with me. That, and the concept of the Singularity: when AI becomes indistinguishable from humans.

For a long time, I didn’t think much about it again. But then came the rise of real-world AI—machine learning breakthroughs, massive data models, algorithms that could write, draw, and think faster than we could blink. It all came rushing back. Only now it wasn’t science fiction. It was real.

The Fear and the Fallout

I’ve always loved the idea of a future like Star Trek , where technology helps us unlock the mysteries of the universe, not just dominate each other. But my initial reaction to AI—especially as an artist—was mostly fear and frustration. And honestly? That fear wasn’t just my imagination. It was based on something real.

AI was growing fast. Too fast. People were using it to generate art and passing it off as their own, skipping the entire process of learning how to actually draw, to express, to create. That felt like theft to me. I’ve spent years building my skills and figuring out how to express myself through my art. Watching people churn out “art” in seconds without understanding the fundamentals felt cheap. It still kind of does. 

Add to that the reality: AI is going to replace jobs. It already has. And in a society where money dictates survival, being replaced by a machine can mean losing everything. That’s terrifying. Especially if you’re someone without a backup plan, a savings cushion, or a system built to catch you.

From Resistance to Realization

For a while, I hated AI. I hated what it represented. I hated how quickly it was being adopted without considering what it meant for real people, real artists.

But then… something clicked.

I realized I had two choices: resist it completely and risk falling behind, or figure out a way to work with it. Not just use it to generate things mindlessly, but to enhance my own work—to help me create what I already envision.

That’s the part no one really tells you: AI is only as good as the person guiding it. The challenge isn’t just using it. The challenge is using it without losing your voice.

A Tool, Not a Replacement

Now, I see AI as a tool. It’s not magic. It can’t feel what I feel when I’m sketching out a concept or breathing life into a character. But it can help me speed up my workflow. It can help me structure ideas, organize thoughts, and even get past the mental blocks that come with creative burnout.

AI didn’t make me an artist. It didn’t teach me perspective, color theory, or how to rig a 3D model. I had to learn that myself. What it can do is support that process—if I’m intentional about how I use it.

That’s the important part. If you’re just pushing a button and calling it art, that’s not creation—it’s replication. But if you’re using it to expand on what you already know, to explore new directions, to assist your process? Then maybe it has a place at the table.

So My Mindset Has Changed. Now What?

There are a ton of tools out there now that use different AI models to help with content creation. One of the first ways I tried this out was by using AI to help write blog posts. The truth is, I’ve never been great at grammar. And after a head injury, it became harder to get my thoughts out of my head and into words. I’ll get into that writing flow where everything is just spilling out at once—and it’s just chaos on the page.

A lot of what I say isn’t wrong—it just might be hard to understand as-is. That used to keep me from writing altogether, especially on hard days when my depression was getting to me. But eventually, I gave AI a shot, even though I still didn’t really trust it. I tried dumping my messy thoughts into ChatGPT, and to my surprise, it returned something that still felt like me—only cleaner, clearer, and more cohesive.

Another time I used it was when I was stuck on a t-shirt idea. I had drawn this alien hanging out on the beach, and I knew I wanted to turn it into a design—but it felt like it needed a phrase to go with it. I sat staring at the blank space for too long before finally typing a description into ChatGPT and asking for some ideas. Some were okay, but a few actually made me laugh—and one of them perfectly captured the vibe I was going for. I had originally thought of something generic like “Fun in the Sun,” but the AI suggestion leaned into the alien concept more directly, and it just worked.

And then there’s this website you’re on right now.

I used Google Sites and Blogger to get the structure down, because I’m on a shoestring budget. This post for example is hosted on Blogger. The layout and customization? That part got tricky. I found an online tool that uses AI to generate HTML frameworks, and it built out something I could use as a base. From there, I dove in and tweaked everything myself—colors, spacing, padding—until it looked and functioned the way I wanted. Could I have coded the whole thing from scratch? Sure. But it would’ve taken me days, maybe weeks. With the help of the AI tool, I got a working framework in seconds and had it fine-tuned by the end of the day.

That kind of assistance helps me keep my creative momentum without burning out. It’s not about cheating or cutting corners—it’s about working smarter so I can stay focused on the parts I’m actually good at. AI can take some of the weight off my shoulders, but I still have to steer the ship. It only does what you tell it to do.

So Where Do I Stand Now?

I’m still cautious. I’m still critical. But I’m also curious.

I won’t let AI define my art. But I’ll let it help me refine it.

If you’re an artist or creative feeling unsure about all this—don’t worry. You’re not alone. I’ve been there too. I'll rage against the machine when the time comes but for now I'll use the tools available to me to better myself whether it's with my  work or even my daily life struggles.