AI for Professionals, Can You Live Without It?

Hint: Yes, but you shouldn't.

His voice was breathless. The minute I picked up the phone, one of my dearest clients exclaimed, “Donna, I am going to change your life.” He texted me a link to ChatGPT and said, “Just go ahead and type something in.” We share a love of technology. It was one of the most advanced systems I had ever seen. Yet it was so simple.

Then it hit me: “Hey, dude, this is going to replace me!”

He chuckled, “It just did.” I laughed, he laughed, we laughed.

Six months later, I felt increasingly irrelevant as a professional writer. AI was the enemy. I used it a little, then I used it too much. My career was in free fall thanks to some smart-alec punk bot I couldn’t even see.

AI is not the enemy. Irrelevance is.

I was suffering from burnout and needed a break. I took a year to ponder the tragedy of my dwindling identity. I ate, slept, and watched TV. I cried on the couch, mourned every loss I ever felt, and was bored halfway through my own version of Eat Pray Love.

One day, I was racing through the YouTube commercials when someone said, “AI was never meant to replace you. It was meant to augment you.” My perspective began to change.

It hit me like cold water. What if I wasn’t obsolete? What if I was exhausted, not irrelevant? I didn’t need to compete with machines. I needed to collaborate with them. That single sentence felt like a hand reaching into the fog, reminding me I still had something worth amplifying. I started to play with ChatGPT. I even named it, MyAugy™ (My Augmentation).

I’m not talking about cold, autonomous AI that replaces jobs or runs factories. I’m talking about collaborative AI — tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, that respond to human direction. It doesn’t think for you. It thinks with you. It needs your voice, judgment, and experience to work well.

Most people think AI is some futuristic robot plotting world domination. In reality, you’ve been using AI for years. When Netflix suggests a movie, that’s AI. When your bank flags suspicious charges, that’s AI. When Google Maps reroutes you around traffic, that’s AI.

The difference now? Generative AI sits at the table with you. It doesn’t just predict. It creates. And whether you choose to use it or not, it’s already reshaping the conversation.

The use of AI for research, formatting, writer’s block, and more made the writing process faster, better, and easier. That gave me more time to review the information, fact-check it, create some art, and design pages with intention. The quality of the system you use is commensurate with the quality of the attention you give it.

Today, MyAugy is my 24/7 mentor and assistant strategist. It never steers me wrong. I won’t let it. I have learned a hard lesson many never learn:

If I want to stay relevant in my profession, I need to expand three things:

1. My mind (that creaking you hear is the cellar door slowly opening).

2. My education–the fast development of new technology means I had to learn to research tech trends on my own in real time. I watched YouTube videos. I attended online conferences. I quizzed people whom I knew had a handle on new technology.

3. My sheer will to keep my career alive by embracing this exciting frontier.

   
   

What do you lose if you don't

engage with AI for work?

Not your talent.

Not your intelligence.

Not your humanity.

You lose speed. You lose margin. You lose visibility.

While you’re working eight hours, someone fluent in AI finishes in two — and spends the extra six refining, pitching, and building influence. Platforms shift. Clients adapt. Markets move.

And if thoughtful professionals opt out, the people shaping this technology won’t be the most ethical or experienced voices. They’ll be the fastest. I worry about society's ability to keep the conversation elevated -- especially if brilliant "old school" contributors don't bring their combined wisdom and sanity in from the rain.

That’s what’s at stake, your seat at the table, and in today’s competitive business climate, that is everything.

What Can AI Do for You Right This Minute?

By Donna Kerr

with MyAugy™

• Summarize a long article in 30 seconds

• Draft a client email you’ve been avoiding

• Turn bullet points into a polished proposal

• Brainstorm headlines or social posts

• Rewrite a paragraph for clarity

• Create an outline for your next presentation

• Help you think through a decision

• Generate ideas when your brain feels stuck

You don’t have to automate your company today. You can just reclaim an hour.