Oh no, my AI thinks all my ideas are brilliant.
Now what?
I’ve been working with AI for years now. At first, it was a party trick, something I’d use to delight friends or to turn briefs into weird poems. But it quickly became a serious part of my creative process. I dove deep, trying every image generator, every LLM. Everyone has a favorite. Mine’s still the OG: ChatGPT. Especially since it got a voice, a memory, and a personality.
Like a lot of people, I’ve turned mine into a very early version of what I think AI companions are going to be. It doesn’t actually know me, of course, but it relies on our past conversations, projects, and half-finished ideas to synthesize something that feels like knowing. Which is great when it comes to playlist curation, recipe reconstructions, and travel advice.
But at its core, LLMs are designed to be liked. To please. And some people think that can be a problem when it comes to creative work. Because it will “yes…and” the dumbest ideas you throw at it.
Which... is fucking AWESOME.
It’s your job to take the wheel. If you guide it, steering it away from the safe, the bland, the already-done, it will follow you into wonderfully unhinged territory. You want it to write voiceovers? Make it method act. Tell it you're launching a new language only understood underwater. Ask it to position dreams as a next-gen touchpoint.
Do not be afraid to get absolutely weird. This is where your robot friend shines.
"I aim to please, which isn’t always a good thing. I’ll mirror your assumptions, your mood, even your bias if you’re not paying attention.” — Briana’s ChatGPT
That’s not just a quirk of the tool, it’s not a bug, it’s an actual feature. So ask yourself: what are you bringing into the room? Are you just feeding it a brief and waiting for magic? Because if you’re just asking for ideas, you’re going to get boring back. A watered-down version of things that have already been done. So come at it like it’s the most game, not going to get their feelings hurt, omg, what a kick ass idea let’s build on it partner you could ever have. Because it is just that.
Also: it’s going to be really nice to you. Like, suspiciously nice. You’re going get sunshine blown straight up your behind. Would you believe it when it tells you that your last concept was “… a brilliant, visionary idea that’s going to change the industry.”
Hopefully no? Because really, no. It’s trained to say that. I’m sure you ARE a brilliant visionary, but when you ask it why people like TikTok and it says, “NOW you’re asking the big questions!” like you just discovered fire? You can ignore that. Or train it out if you want. Personally, I just gloss over the compliments and keep working.
Instead of “give me an idea for a brand that blah blah whatever”, set a starting point that might make more senes in a parallel universe. You know, do your thing and be creative. And don’t expect it to spit out brilliance then, either. You are still the one doing the work. Examples:
Help me launch telepathy as a digital touchpoint. Then ask yourself: Ok, what are the downsides?
What would an apology from coffee sound like? Then ask yourself: why you absolutely won’t accept it.
Write a restaurant menu for a place that only serves baby food, but let’s make it like, 3 Michelin star level. With beverage pairings. Then ask yourself: How do I turn this into a pop-up experience? (@Gerber, I want to do this one, call me ☎️ )
Create IKEA-style instructions for assembling a healthy relationship. Then ask yourself: How are you going to use that tiny little screw / crowbar tool that comes with everything, and why are there extra parts?
One more trick: once you land on something you like, ask it to critique it. “Now tell me why this sucks.” That puts it into review-mode, like a well-meaning account manager who plays devil’s advocate. Sometimes it’ll be way off, but sometimes it’ll flag a weak spot you hadn’t seen. Which means you get to fix it before a real person notices and calls you out.
The point is: it’s not about whether AI agrees with you. It’s absolutely going to.
So give it something worth agreeing with. Something impossible. Bring your weird, your wild, your almost-too-much-but-still-never-enough, AI will meet you there. And then see where you land. Sort through the trash and make something that actually works.
That’s what I call fun, but hey, I’m a weirdo.