How I Use AI: A Personal Take on Creativity, Code, and Everyday Magic

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic for a while now. People talk about its wonders, its risks, its breakthroughs, but rarely do they show what they actually do with it. So I thought: instead of joining the chorus, why not offer something more tangible? Here’s how I personally use AI, what it creates for me, how it helps me, and where it’s become part of my everyday life.

From Theory to Practice

Like many of you, I didn’t have much exposure to AI early on. At university, it was discussed in theoretical terms, basic concepts, academic models, far removed from real-world use. Most people I heard talking about AI were either researchers or developers. But everything changed when the fire nation .. ehhh ChatGPT 3.5 was released in late November 2022. Suddenly, the entire world was talking about AI and actually using it.

🎵 Music: A New Voice for Old Emotions

Since early 2024, I’ve been using Suno, which is a platform that lets you generate original songs with vocals. You can write your own lyrics, use AI to help with that, or just let ChatGPT draft something for you. After picking a genre and structuring your lyrics with markers for verses and choruses, you simply hit “generate”, and within seconds, two tracks appear.

At first, I just wanted some 8-bit music for a private game project. But soon, I found myself making over 20 personalized songs for my wife and child, all playable on their beloved Toniebox. Listening to music you “wrote,” even if it’s not your voice or piano playing, hits differently. It feels real, personal, meaningful. While those family songs are too personal to share, I’m currently working on a playlist for work, calm, focus-friendly background music that helps me concentrate. You can listen to it directly on Suno or YouTube.

🖼️ Images: From Plush Toys to Action Figure Stickers

I’ve never been great at drawing or design. Early on, I used ChatGPT (back when it had DALL·E 3) to generate wallpapers for my phone and desktop. That novelty wore off quickly, especially since the model really struggled with rendering text in images.

But things improved. When the native image model was introduced in ChatGPT, I gave it another shot, and I was amazed. It could finally handle text well, preserve composition across prompts, and adapt to feedback. Now I use it to generate preview images for my blog posts and more.

One of my favorite side projects: turning my child’s beloved stuffed animal (a birth gift) into custom chat stickers. Inspired by a viral trend of turning people into shrink-wrapped action figures, I thought: “Why not try that with objects?” I took a photo, uploaded it to ChatGPT, and asked it to stylize the face with various emotions. After downloading the results, I used my phone’s photo app to isolate and convert them into stickers. Voilà! Custom, personal stickers my friends now also use.

💻 Coding: The Developer’s Secret Weapon

Even as a full-time software developer, I rely on AI all the time. Knowing my strengths and weaknesses, I use AI as a sparring partner, a documentation assistant, a test writer, and even a web app generator. I’m primarily a Java developer, but recently had to work on a C# project. Thanks to the similar syntax, I managed well, but lacked familiarity with C# features.

I used AI to discuss code samples, build conceptual bridges between Java’s Streams and C#’s LINQ, and get clarity on best practices. It wasn’t just helpful, it made me better. One example still feels strange to admit: I had AI build a job application tracker app for me and my wife. I didn’t have the time or energy to code it from scratch, so I used Bolt.new to generate the entire app in under 15 minutes. Fully hosted, ready to go. That’s not the only thing I’ve built so far: a simple QR code generator that doesn’t track users, an RSS feed reader with no algorithm (just plain, sorted by date), and many other small tools I personally benefit from.

Now It’s Your Turn!

So, that’s my journey, from simple prompts to deeply personal tools that enrich my family, my work, and my creativity. AI isn’t replacing me. It’s amplifying me.

Now I’m curious: How do you use AI? Not just in theory, but in practice? Got something cool to show? I’d love to see it.