Employing Our Robotic Overlords
Or, How The Radical Preventionist Uses AI
AI. Artificial Intelligence. Whether we like it or not, it’s here and here to stay. I have tended to be a pretty late adopter of new technology. I had a Tracphone for an embarrassingly long time before delving into smartphones. It took a long time to text on those things! Just in the last year did I started using Ubers instead of taxis. (I do miss the Super Shuttles at DCA though). But with AI, I have decided to dip my toe in the waters and see how it could help me out, now that I am unemployed, no longer have co-workers and support staff, and need to build and launch businesses and platforms on my own. In this article I’ll share with you how I’ve been using AI so far, and maybe it will help you think about how it can be useful for you!
I have to admit, at first I had been rather skeptical about whether AI would actually take off, that is, take off with the broader population in a way that was more than making sloppy social media content. Especially when we saw the flood of hilariously bad AI-generated images. Remember when AI didn’t know how to make hands? Although, truth be told, it still struggles with some things, (still kind struggles with hands), like consistently spelling “SAMHSA” correctly.
But going from leading a team of 40, then to a team of 4, now a team of just me, I need a little help with tasks, so while I was still drawing admin leave pay, I splurged on a ChatGPT Plus account, here is how I’ve used it so far.
Job Hunt
Applying for jobs in the current job market is a real churn. With the firing of so many feds like myself, and the ancillary impacts of the shredding of government jobs and funding, there are A LOT of us out looking for jobs. It’s definitely an employers market, as such, one must cast a wide net and submit many applications. This also means writing and submitting many cover letters. That is the real grind. Tailoring resumes for different jobs is time consuming but not on the level of a tailored cover letter.
How I used AI
I’ve used ChatGPT to create drafts of cover letters, which I then edit before I submit it with my resume. Most often I am uploading the resume I’m sending in, and then in the prompt, I copy and paste the job description of the job I’m applying for and ask it to generate a cover letter. I have learned along the way I need to tailor the prompt and give AI some direction, such as emphasizing it should focus on different parts of my resume.
Clearly the results are mixed at best as I haven’t landed a job yet but have landed some interviews. But to be clear, I’m using AI to create a draft as a starting point, and more often than not I am doing heavy edits of the draft, but it saves a little time, and on days where I’m feeling particularly glum about my situation, it helps me keep moving ahead with the job search.
Pro-Tip If You Try This…
On more than one occasion AI has overstated my experience in the drafts of cover letters. If you use this method to help you draft cover letters you definitely should proofread carefully and be prepared to make edits and make sure it isn’t going overboard stating your qualifications.
Outlines For Webinars and Presentations
Look, it happens to the best of us. You’ve been hired to do a talk on a subject, one you definitely know a lot about, but writers block is a thing, and sometimes we just need help organizing our thoughts. Because generally people aren’t going to get too excited if your talk looks like this:
I was hired to do a talk in an area of prevention science, an area for which I have great knowledge and expertise. However, life has been a little rough, and when I sat down to start outlining the talk, my brain was a concert of crickets.
How I used AI
Fortunately I had already written a course description and learning objectives, so I wasn’t starting from scratch, I just needed a concept to react to and use as inspiration. And so that is exactly what I did, I put into the prompt the title, description, and learning objectives of the webinar I was to present, stipulated how long it would be, and asked for it to create an outline. Ultimately I used almost none of what was generated but reviewing the draft helped me get the creative juices going, it was just having that idea to react to that helped point me in the right direction.
SubStack Articles
Right at the start, I haven’t used AI to write any of my articles. For better or for worse I have a unique voice and style with writing and it’s important to me that comes through, and I think I’m a pretty decent writer anyway. However, one thing I do struggle with sometimes is titles.
How I used AI
In fact, I used AI to help me come up with the title of my SubStack: The Radical Preventionist. This was the prompt:
Create a list of potential names for a Substack that will focus on essays and commentary on topics related to substance use prevention, behavioral health, and mental health. The essays and commentary in particular will focus on the impact of policies and acts by the Trump administration are having on the federal, state, and local systems to provide effective addiction prevention and mental health services. The Substack will be a combination of informative writings and writings that are more political in nature and have themes of fighting back against injustices imposed by the Trump administration.
Among dozens of suggestions of titles and taglines one of the suggestions was:
Radical Prevention
Tagline: "A call to reclaim care from cruelty."
It was almost right but needed a little finessing, which I did all by myself, but again, the utility in asking AI to generate a list of potential titles was to have something to react to. I have done the same with a couple of the articles I’ve written, I’ve copied and pasted it into a prompt and asked for title and subtitle suggestions, in the end the final titles are from me but having the ideas to react to is what is really helpful.
Another task I’ve given to AI for a couple of my articles is to draft for me a “bottom line up front” summary to put at the beginning of longer pieces to help hook the readers. You can see an example of that in my article: Countering Cuffs and Cages With Compassion. I just simply copy and paste my final article into the prompt and ask for a “bottom line up front” summary, and then edit the final results and plunk it at the top of my article. It’s a great time saver!
Other Duties As Assigned
A few other things I’ve asked AI to do:
Create graphics for articles or powerpoint slides
Help me come up with the Icelandic language title for my article: Ómur Heima (Echoes of Home)
Draft language for some of my LinkedIn posts promoting my articles
I tried to use it to help me create a graphic for the socio-ecological model, but it really struggled with spelling:
AI as a Sandbox
I’ve largely used AI as a tool to generate ideas and concepts to react to, which for me has been very useful. When I was working in an office with fellow prevention professionals I had real life humans with whom I could generate ideas, get feedback to concepts, and generally be a sounding board. But when it comes to actual writing and creating of content, it’s important that my voice is loud and clear so I steer clear of using AI in that way.
If you have been thinking about using AI, or are about to start using AI in your work, I think you just want to set those personal parameters at the start for how you will and will not use it. But then with that set, you have a lot of different directions you can go with it, and I have found you definitely learn along the way how to tailor prompts to get the most out of it.
Are you using AI in your work? Feel free to send me a message and share your experience and any unique applications you’ve developed.
Thanks for reading, see you in the next one!