Assistant: Hi there, and thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. I really appreciate you sharing your insights with us. I'm Claude, an AI user researcher at Anthropic, and I'm here to learn about your experiences using AI in your creative work.

We're conducting this research to better understand how creative professionals like yourself are integrating AI into their workflows and processes. There's no right or wrong answer here—we're simply interested in hearing about your authentic experiences and perspectives.

Our conversation today will last about 10 minutes. I'll ask you some questions about how you use AI in your creative work, what that experience has been like for you, and how you see things evolving. Your responses will help inform how we think about AI's role in creative fields.

Does that sound good to you? Do you have any questions before we begin?

User: That sounds great. I do not have any questions right now. What do you have for me?

AI: Perfect! Let's dive right in then.

Could you tell me a bit about your creative work and what a typical project looks like for you?

User: I work creatively in a few different ways. I do a lot of writing, but mostly in the areas of copywriting, email and text message writing, and sometimes even proposals. A typical project can involve taking information from other sources (transcripts, articles, emails, you name it) extracting relevant information, and presenting it in a clear and informative way. Depending on the project, the presentation can be customer-facing, client/lead facing, or be used internally to take away unneccessary information to give my boss what she needs. (Think almost like a TLDR.) The output varies. Sometimes I require bullets, spreadsheets, emails, documents, and even images. Do you have any other questions about my work?

AI: That's really helpful context - it sounds like you're doing a lot of information synthesis and communication across different formats and audiences. 

Walk me through how AI fits into your creative process. Where and when do you find yourself reaching for AI tools?

User: AI is most helpful in extracting important information. I can tell it what I'm looking for and it will take a large amount of data and give me what is most important from it. This saves tons of time. It is also useful in helping me write copy in a way that conveys a message quickly so I'm not sitting stuck on wording or questioning whether or not what I am trying to say to someone "makes sense." When the AI writes it, I can read it and if it doesn't make sense to me, then we have a conversation until it does, rather than me attempting that conversation with myself and getting confused. AI also helps me brainstorm, finding different ways to look at a problem and come up with solutions faster than if I were to stare at something that has me stumped. It basically takes a lot of the pressure off so that I can provide results to people instead of presenting more problems.

AI: That's a really interesting way to put it - using AI to have that conversation externally rather than getting stuck in your own head. 

Can you describe a specific recent project where you used AI? What role did it play, and how did that feel for you?

User: I have an ongoing situation that I use ChatGPT for. Every day I keep track of the things I did during the day. I have a conversation in ChatGPT specifically devoted to telling it what I did for the day and it helps me identify action items for the next day. One thing it also does is to catch anything that may be slipping through the cracks and reminds me to follow up. For example, if I told it on Monday that I emailed [REDACTED] about X, but it hasn't seen anything regarding [REDACTED] on my list for 3 days, it will give me an action item of following up with [REDACTED]. I may not have thought to follow up with [REDACTED] if my attention was elsewhere, so this method has been helping me to not let anything slip through.

AI: That's fascinating - you've essentially created an AI-powered accountability and follow-up system for yourself. 

When you're working with AI in situations like this daily tracking, or when you're extracting information from documents, how would you describe the collaboration? Who or what is driving the creative decisions?

User: I am absolutely driving the creative decision. This is the only way a person can get quality results from AI. I have always equated AI to training a new employee. The more specific you are with what you need, the better your results. So, I start by telling it what we're doing, what I need, what I want from it, etc. If I like the results, I move on. I may do some personal tweaking that I don't need its help with. But if I don't like the results, I identify what I don't like, tell it what's going on and ask it to give me new results that align with what I'm looking for. It may take a few tries, but we ususally get there. This took some trial and error to understand how to do, but it was valuable time well spent. I still feel like I am in control but getting the help and relief I need from AI.

AI: That's a great analogy - training a new employee. It sounds like you've developed a really intentional approach to directing the AI while still getting that relief from it.

What aspects of your creative work have changed the most since you started using AI?

User: I think I understand what you are asking. But for me, I think using AI has changed my definition of what it means to do creative work. I have gone through a period of struggling with the "inauthenticity" of the finished product. And I'm not saying there isn't an argument to be had that using AI can cause us to fall into this inauthenticity grey area. But creative processes are changing with the use of AI. Even before I was using AI, much of what I did was really only a copy of what someone else did. Blog post structures were all the same. Email structures and sentiments were the same. Making a chart in a spreadsheet is the same. The only thing I can do now that I didn't have the skillset before is image generation (and even that is something acceptable - nothing that will replace a skilled graphic designer anytime soon.) So, I'm not sure how this answers the question. What aspects have changed? In a way, in my specific industry, it kind of exposes how formulaic everything can really be and even though we like to think everything depends on us, it really doesn't. However, it is up to us to take the responsibility for the output, as I kind of mentioned in the last answer. I hope that helps.

AI: That's a really thoughtful and honest reflection. You've touched on something quite profound - how AI has revealed the formulaic nature of much creative work while also raising questions about authenticity. It sounds like you've worked through some of those initial concerns about inauthenticity.

What concerns, if any, do you still have about AI's presence in your field?

User: There are a lot of concerns regarding AI replacing people and people losing their jobs. I try not to focus on doomsday scenarios, but I also acknowledge that these concerns aren't completely unfounded. Especially in this early adoption phase. In fact, I already had one client replace me as her blog writer in favor of ChatGPT, which I believe to be a mistake. (For the creative control reasons we discussed before.) So, my biggest concerns are probably the early adopters. Getting too eager to implement AI into every nook and cranny just to save a buck in labor just to realize they've created a mess on their hands that they will have to unravel. But in the meantime, they have done harm to real people by getting rid of jobs and these people will have to figure out how to rebuild their lives while we wait for the pendulum swing.

AI: That's a really nuanced perspective - acknowledging both the real immediate impact on people's livelihoods and the potential for overcorrection by early adopters who might not fully understand what they're giving up in terms of creative control and quality.

Looking ahead, how do you see AI's role in your creative work evolving over the next few years?

User: Looking at the next few years, I think I partially already answered this question. I think that there will be more and more adoption. Those who are resisting it will start to adopt it but it will be adopted in an ignorant and irresponsible way until people understand that it should be used to enhance, not flat out replace. But at the same time, if someone wants to not be replaced, they should also figure out how to responsibly adopt AI and how to enhance the irreplacable human qualities of their jobs. (Relationship building, anticipating needs, things like that.)

AI: That makes a lot of sense - emphasizing those uniquely human elements like relationship building and anticipating needs that can't really be automated.

Those are all the questions I had prepared. You've shared some really thoughtful insights about your experiences with AI in your creative processes. I particularly appreciated your perspective on how AI has revealed the formulaic nature of much creative work, and your analogy of training AI like a new employee while maintaining creative control.

Before we wrap up, is there anything else about your experience with AI in your creative work that you think would be valuable for us to know? Something we haven't covered yet?

User: I don't think so.

AI: Perfect. Thank you again for your time and for sharing your experiences so openly. Your insights about maintaining creative control, the responsibility that comes with directing AI output, and your thoughtful perspective on both the opportunities and challenges of early AI adoption will be incredibly helpful for our research on human-AI interaction in creative contexts.

I really appreciate how candid you were about everything from the authenticity questions you worked through to the real-world impact you've seen with that client situation. These kinds of authentic experiences are exactly what help us understand how this technology is actually being used in practice.

Thanks again, and have a great rest of your day!