When I chose to begin a new life going solo I made a Faustian pact with my sister that I would not fall into the trap that far too many divorced men fall into–exclusively rely upon restaurants or take-out for my nourishment. In between my first and second marriages that defined my own eating habits, and I eventually ballooned to 280 pounds. Two decades older and without a steady income that was no longer an option.
So I chose to invest what I did have into a meal prep subscription service that was all the rage at the outset of the “pandemic”–it provided me with both a roadmap and quality ingredients to hone my craft with. One of my earlier musings explained how this was a revelation and a catharsis. As was also the order of the day at a time when connectivity was even more difficult than ever I made a vow to share proof of performance with my sister as a sign that I was heeding her advice and that I was indeed still alive. Eventually, once I met my bestie she was added to the text chain. Being a creature of habit, to this day I’ve kept that up every time I prepare a meal. And lately my bestie has been all the more complimentary of my outputs, calling me “Chef Leblang” in the process. She’s admittedly biased, but I love her dearly and I’ll take any positive reinforcement I can find.
When I asked what inspired her sudden motivation to be so complimentary, she said she noticed the ingredients that I posted along with my meal were evidence that I cared about what I put into my body and that she found that to be a turn-on, since she’s always been particular about what she puts into hers. So you’d best believe that as a result I’m all the more determined to care about the ingredients I use in any endeavor these days.
Thankfully, I got a rare and welcomed opportunity to do so this week when a longtime friend and colleague reached out to have me help him prepare a presentation for a streaming media “conference” (like way too many other such gatherings, this one is virtual) he was participating in. The topic is immaterial to this story; suffice to say it’s more than a tad nichy but his background made him an ideal candidate for the topic. He had more than a working knowledge of it but was in need of some deep dive research to help him suss out a few points. And he was willing to actually pay me a few shekels to do so–which if you saw the alerts from my bank you’d know what all the motivation I needed. The hitch–he needed it pronto, as the panel he was presenting it in happens to be this afternoon.
So by necessity I elected to rely upon a little help from my new friend with the initials A.I. I’m seasoned enough to be initially resistant to using it, and I get particularly triggered when I see what is unquestionably A.I. slop in my timelines. Even I know that when I see videos or images with misspellings or inconsistencies with car models or fashions I know it’s total bullsh-t. What amazes me more is that way too many commenters either don’t realize that or choose not to care. It makes all the more grateful when I see these sorts of observations right behind them in my doomscrolling I realize I’m not the only curmedgeon on the internet. 
It was with this sort of detail that I approached this project. I found 14 different articles over a four-year span, including one dropped as recently as Monday, from a variety of domestic and international sources that dealt with both high-level and extremely specific aspects of the topic. If one were to simply ask a chatbot to procure such a list and distill something from it you’d be all the more likely to get something that qualifies as A.I. slop. For sh-ts and giggles I actually did that, and the output was downright unrecognizable from the actual topic at hand.
But I did use Copilot to take the ingredients I fed into it, along with a few follow-up instructions on order and graphics, to produce the final deliverable. Before AI existed, such a process would have taken me at bare minimum a full eight-hour day. In this case, while the research itself took me several hours to procure, the production of the pdf took less than half an hour. Most importantly, my friend’s reaction was as positive as the one my bestie bestows upon my culinary efforts. And unlike way too many other clients of the past he paid me within minutes of his approval.
For those of you that are more advanced in your utility of these tools than moi, you may find this “aha” moment more than a bit simplistic and perhaps a reinforcement of what you may consider my status as a Luddite or dinosaur. Bully for you if that’s the case. I learn by doing, not by online videos or a book (as it would appear, ironically produced with the help of AI). And by doing I’ve actually gotten significant better at producing output than I was when I started. Both in the kitchen and at my computer. Unlike the trajectory of my once-thriving media career, I’m hardly a candidate for a Michelin award now or in the future. But if my bestie is impressed, that’s frankly the most valuable reward I can hope for. Next to being occasionally paid a farthing or two for my efforts, of course.
Take a look at my output during today’s conference if you can, or perhaps via the inevitable post-mortem posting that will likely arise. If you’re even mildly impressed I’d love to whip something up for you sometime. Until then, bon appetit.
Until next time…