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Kat's (not boring) take on using A.I. in your creative business
HINT: Everything in moderation... everything!
Kat Oldershaw
July 11, 2025
Happy Friday friends, colleagues, clients and collaborators - It’s your pal Kat, Owner + Operator of kat&co.
Let’s chat A.I. (artificial intelligence)… ever heard of it? 🙄
I am inundated daily about the urgency to adopt A.I. to promote productivity, reach, and achieve the nirvana of a “streamlined business.” I’m sure you can relate - the promises of A.I. are in our inboxes, our LinkedIn feeds, and are quietly creeping into every tool we use in this digital age.
I have about as much patience towards an A.I. sales pitch as I do towards your classic “tech bro”… Frankly, it doesn’t interest me too much and I am quietly waiting for the raving to die down.
But, do I use A.I. in my business? The answer is yes… in moderation.
As a creative business owner, I am well aware of the implications using A.I. can have towards my creative process - a loss of a sense of ownership, output that does the job but rarely “wows”, and a general feeling of “average-ness”.
After all, A.I. can only use existing content to process my prompt (sans credit, unless you ASK for it to show its sources… which I suggest you do).
“Aditya Vashistha, a professor of information science at Cornell who co-authored the study, compared the A.I. to “a teacher who is sitting behind me every time I’m writing, saying, ‘This is the better version.’ ” He added, “Through such routine exposure, you lose your identity, you lose the authenticity. You lose confidence in your writing.”
“Max Kreminski, who helped carry out the analysis and now works with the generative-A.I. startup Midjourney, told me that when people use A.I. in the creative process they tend to gradually cede their original thinking. At first, users tend to present their own wide range of ideas, Kreminski explained, but as ChatGPT continues to instantly spit out high volumes of acceptable-looking text users tend to go into a “curationist mode.”
PHEW. To step back from the proverbial edge, my point is:
A.I. is neither GOOD or BAD… it is a tool.
And like any other tool, it is up to us (the user) to decide how the tool affects us, and how / when we utilize the tool.
For me, this looks like the following:
Where I use A.I. in my business -
Quickly repurposing previously created documents (ex. small changes to a job description, procedure document, or service agreement)
Cross checking previously created documents for errors (ex. comparing documents to ensure that both have the same spelling / references throughout)
Gathering opposing feedback or alternative ideas to something I am brainstorming (ex. the “does this sound crazy” question you would ask a co-worker… especially helpful when you don’t have co-workers like me!)
Where I don’t use A.I. in my business -
This newsletter
Email correspondence
Virtual meeting note takers (I know these work really well for some people… but if I don’t write it, I don’t remember it)
Any creative ideation or new development!!! Call me old-fashioned, but I like to sit with my creative ideas… sometimes for weeks or months before I put them into action. If I actually start it, that means I’m passionate about it 🍷
Our businesses are meant to evolve. I might look back on this newsletter issue and cringe. But for the time being -
✓ Protect your creative ideation!
✓ Comparison is the thief of joy!
✓ Everything in moderation!
THOUGHTS?
✨ I am opening my books for (2) New Business Setup clients to begin in July - August 2025 ✨
Think you might be the perfect fit, or know someone who is?
I am truly excited to be building community around creative small businesses, entrepreneurship, and authenticity.
Until next time - We got this! 🖤
Love from your friend,
Kat