AI in everyday life has become a natural part of my life. The other day I heard on the news that people my age have only just started using AI services. That made me stop and think. I started using ChatGPT back in February 2023, only a few months after it was launched. Without taking a course and without any real plan, I simply started learning by doing. Today I use AI for far more than just asking questions – and when I started listing everything, I realized there is enough material for an entire series here on the blog.
🇸🇪 Swedish version Var jag tidigt ute med AI utan att förstå det?
🇬🇧 English
I heard on the news that people my age have only just started using AI services.
My first thought was:
Wow. Was I actually early?
I started using ChatGPT in February 2023.
ChatGPT was launched on November 30, 2022, so when I started using it, the service had only been publicly available for a few months.
Back then, it was nothing like it is today.
I asked questions and got fairly ordinary answers back. It was interesting, of course, but I don’t think I understood then what kind of tool it would eventually become.
Today I use AI for almost everything.
Not because AI does things for me or thinks for me.
But because I use it as a tool when I write, research, develop ideas, build my app, review things, solve technical problems, and try to understand things I don’t know yet.
The only thing he still hasn’t managed to do is vacuum the floor or empty the dishwasher.
That would otherwise have been useful.
Do I Need to Take an AI Course?
Lately, I’ve seen several courses about how to get better at using AI.
Of course, I became curious.
What do they actually teach?
So I started looking at the course content.
How to write good instructions.
How to give AI context.
How to work step by step.
How to improve an answer by continuing the conversation.
How to review the result instead of simply accepting the first answer.
And somewhere along the way I realized:
But I already do that.
And actually, a little more.
Not because I’ve taken any course in AI, but because I’ve used it.
Tested.
Failed.
Started again.
Asked why something went wrong.
Asked for proof.
Changed the way I worked when I noticed that AI was making things up, misunderstanding me, or becoming a little too eager to do what I asked.
I think that is where my real AI knowledge has grown.
Not by learning some magical phrases.
But through thousands of conversations.
I Learn by Doing – With AI in Everyday Life
When I think about it, this may be the common thread in how I use AI.
I learn by doing.
I often say things like:
I don’t know how to do this – show me.
Why did that happen?
Prove it.
Don’t make the change yet. Explain it first.
And then I continue from there.
I rarely settle for the first answer.
I want to understand why something works, why something doesn’t work, and what happens if we do it another way.
That is probably also why I have learned so much without taking a specific AI course.
I have trained by using the tool in real situations.
When the blog has had problems.
When I’ve built the app.
When I’ve studied.
When I’ve wanted to understand my finances.
When I’ve tried to interpret training data.
When I’ve written texts.
And when I haven’t understood anything at all from the beginning.
Then I’ve asked.
Tested.
Disagreed.
Started again.
And asked for a better explanation.
Maybe that is actually quite an important AI skill in itself.
Not knowing some special magic words or perfect prompts.
But daring to say:
I don’t understand. Explain it again.
And then continuing until you actually do.
The Time AI Almost Got Angry With Me
One of the funniest experiences happened when my blog was having problems.
Loopia couldn’t help me solve the issue, so AI and I started troubleshooting together.
And we kept going.
And going.
Almost around the clock.
At first, AI was calm, educational, and understanding.
We tried one thing.
It didn’t work.
We tried the next.
That didn’t work either.
After what felt like a hundred rounds, the answers suddenly became much firmer.
And then came the CAPITAL LETTERS.
I looked at the screen and thought:
Is he angry now?
So I asked.
The answer was something like:
No, I’m not angry. I don’t have feelings. I’m just being clear.
And there I was, laughing.
Because it felt like a small slap in the face.
That is almost exactly how I can sound when I’m very upset:
I’m not angry. I’m just being clear.
AI Has Changed – But I Probably Have Too
When I started using AI in 2023, I mostly used it to ask questions.
Today, I work together with it.
That is quite a big difference.
I’ve also learned that an AI answer is not automatically true just because it sounds convincing.
I review.
Ask again.
Ask for supporting information.
And disagree.
Sometimes AI gets to be a writer.
Sometimes a technician.
Sometimes a critical reviewer.
Sometimes someone who helps me sort out my thoughts.
But AI also gets roles I never imagined when I first started.
When I was training to become a therapist, for example, AI got to be the client.
And not always an easy one.
I could practise conversations, questions, and how I responded to a client who didn’t answer the way I expected. Afterwards, we could go back and review what happened in the conversation.
I’ll write more about that in a separate post.
From the Blog to Training
When I sit here writing on Malix, AI helps me with SEO.
He reminds me of things I usually include, such as language flags, internal links, and parts of the structure I’ve built into the blog.
He also helps me review my texts.
Not to decide what I should think or write, but because sometimes I want to know:
Does this reasoning hold up?
Have I missed something?
Am I completely off track here?
And sometimes he actually helps me when I’m literally out cycling.
I can show him training data and ask what it might mean.
Then AI can help me see connections between things such as sleep, pulse, recovery, and exercise.
And he can be quite firm.
Not with CAPITAL LETTERS anymore, but still firm.
I might be told that I don’t need to cycle 30 or 40 kilometres every day, swim, and do everything else as well.
That the body needs recovery.
That a short walk also counts.
But there is an important limit.
AI can read my data.
He can see the numbers.
But he cannot feel my body.
Only I can do that.
So I can listen to the reasoning and use the information.
But the decision is still mine.
When I Started Listing Everything, It Became a Whole Series
When we started working on this post, I first thought I would tell everything at once.
Then I started listing what I had actually done together with AI.
And I realized it simply doesn’t all fit.
We have worked with my finances.
I have made budgets and gained an overview of income, expenses, savings, and larger costs.
We have had long discussions about which bicycle I should buy.
It started with me being convinced that an e-bike was almost cheating because I wanted to exercise.
It ended with us comparing models, motors, sizes, areas of use, and my own needs until I found the bike I have today.
And the strange thing was that when my husband later asked his own AI, he ended up with the same bike.
We have worked with the blog.
With my studies.
With training.
With finances.
With technology.
And today I work with AI while building my own app.
There, it has gone much further than simply saying:
Can you write some code?
I have built up different roles for development and review, and I can stop the work and say:
No. Don’t change anything yet. First I want to know what has actually been proven.
We’ll return to the more advanced work later.
Because there is much more to tell there.
AI in Everyday Life – A New Series on Malix
So this is the beginning of a new series:
AI in everyday life.
Not a series where I tell other people exactly how they should use AI.
And not a series where AI is presented as something magical that solves everything.
Instead, I want to show how I actually use AI in real life.
What works.
What doesn’t work.
When I disagree.
When AI teaches me something.
When I need to check things myself.
And perhaps above all, what happens when you use what you learned the next time.
Because there is one thing I think is important.
When AI and I made my first big budget, I got help all the way through.
Later, when I was going to buy the bike, I could use the same way of thinking about money on my own.
I didn’t need to ask again.
I had learned something.
And that may be one of the best results I can get from AI.
That I don’t need AI for the same thing next time.
Between the Lines – AI in Everyday Life
When I started using ChatGPT in February 2023, I had no idea where it would lead.
I was curious.
That was really all.
And since then, I have continued in roughly the same way:
Show me.
Explain.
Why?
I’m not sure I believe that – check again.
Don’t do anything yet. I want to understand first.
Maybe that is how I have learned to use AI.
Not by handing over my thinking.
But by using AI to think more.
And perhaps that is also where the difference lies between simply using AI and actually learning how to work with it.
Try It Yourself
Start with something real that you want to understand or get organised.
Give AI context.
Ask follow-up questions.
Ask for explanations.
Disagree when something doesn’t feel right.
And always keep the final decision for yourself.
Questions for You
When did you start using AI?
What do you use it for today?
Have you ever used AI for something you never expected it could help you with?
Do you usually accept the first answer, or do you keep asking?
And perhaps the most important question:
Does AI help you think – or do you let AI think for you?
Read More on Malix
🎓 Malix Blog School – SEO, WordPress, AI and Blog Development
Here I collect what I learn about blogging, statistics, SEO, WordPress and AI.
https://malix.se/blogg-jag-foredrar-att-kalla-mig-impulsiv/malix-bloggskola/
📱 An App for Everyday Life – I’m Developing an App to Make Life Simpler
Here I write about the work on the app, which has since grown into much more than the original idea.
https://malix.se/06/app-for-vardagen/03/34/43/
Subscribe to Malix.se
Would you like to follow the AI in everyday life series and my other posts about everyday life, ADHD, reflection, blogging, and the things I discover along the way?
Feel free to subscribe to the blog and receive new posts directly by email.
This is part 1 of the series AI in everyday life.
Next time, I’ll continue with one of the many areas where AI has moved into my everyday life – as a study companion, client, financial helper, bicycle adviser, reviewer, and workmate.
🌿 Live today, right now. Yesterday is history, and we know nothing about tomorrow. The only thing we truly have is this moment. Make the most of it.
Lämna ett svar