Oh Fuck.

Years ago, when I had my branding agency, Creative Brands, I brought a board member onto the company.

His name was Mike.

Mike had run a listed company. He'd seen things. He'd built things. He wasn't easily impressed.

Looking back, I realise I was basically ChatGPT.

Endless ideas.

Friendly.

Agreeable.

Excited.

"Yes."

"Great idea."

"What if we also…"

And Mike's job was to put the brakes on.

He questioned my thinking.

Burst the bubble.

Forced me to explain myself.

I hated it.

Not because he was wrong.

Because he was often right.

Which, unfortunately, is worse.

At the time, I thought Mike was the obstacle.

Now I can see he was the structure.

Years later, I found myself going down AI rabbit holes.

One question becoming another.

One idea leading to ten more.

Until it was one in the morning and I didn't even know what I was doing anymore.

Then I tried Claude.

To be honest, he intimidated me.

ChatGPT felt friendly. Claude felt serious.

And I didn't always like what he had to say.

He was harsher.

More sceptical.

Less interested in making me feel clever.

So I started putting them against each other.

Claude would critique ChatGPT.

Then I'd feed Claude's response back into ChatGPT.

Who, rather annoyingly, would often agree with Claude while challenging parts of his argument.

And then:

Oh fuck.

I'd hired Mike again.

Except this time he lived in my iPhone.

Earlier this week I asked ChatGPT for essay ideas.

It produced a beautiful list.

Then I asked Claude.

His response was different.

"Not like that.

You know how this works.

The ideas that become good essays aren't generated from a list.

They come from something you're actually trying to think through.

What's unresolved for you right now?

What have you noticed this week that you can't quite name yet?"

Ouch.

This is that essay.

The board member who challenged me.

The closed door at nine.

Someone else holding my phone.

The counsellor who pierced through me.

And now Claude pushing back on ChatGPT.

Apparently I needed Mike more than I realised.