If you have visited LinkedIn in recent months, you have likely felt the presence of a new ‘expert’ caste – AI police. These are the users who can recognize a post written with the help of artificial intelligence by the number of emojis, generic titles, famous em dashes, and even the appearance of quotation marks. Due to these ‘artificial’ texts and the boldness of the police who no longer hesitate to criticize, in the style of ‘I see you, I know what you are doing’, AI tools have gained a bad reputation, and their capabilities have been almost reduced to writing posts on social platforms. Quite undeservedly. Because, if you know what and how to use them, they can become exactly what they essentially are – digital assistants that save precious time, improve productivity, and efficiency for the person they humbly serve (note: the em dash in this sentence was not added by the AI tool). Since it is sometimes forgotten in what ways (besides writing posts) AI assistants can help daily, we present five ways to make artificial intelligence work for you, not the other way around.
1. Write Faster and Smarter
AI can be your secret copywriter. Instead of struggling for hours with sentences, it is enough to provide AI with context and the desired tone, and it will produce content (e.g., an email), revise an already written text, or make it more interesting. For example: ‘Write a professional yet friendly email in which I send the updated presentation and suggest the next step.’ With such a prompt, you will receive a version that sounds natural, and depending on your needs, do not forget that it can be edited or shortened with additional instructions, reformatted into bullets, or even translated into a foreign language.
Pro tip: If you provide enough context (who you are, who you are writing to, and why you are writing), AI will return a version that you would probably have written yourself, just much faster. Maybe even better.
2. Organize Your Day Stress-Free
Instead of endless lists and sticky notes, AI can easily organize your schedule by priorities. For instance, you can request: ‘Organize my work week. I work from 9 to 5, spend at least three hours a day with my children, and want 30 minutes for exercise and an hour a day for learning.’ AI will turn this into a simple plan that includes breaks and realistic goals. Of course, the plan can also relate to the workday itself, and AI can provide additional tips for implementation (what reminders to use, which apps can help you, etc.)
Pro tip: Ask it to use, for example, the Pomodoro technique or to display the schedule in a color-coded table and similar, as this will bring you a step closer to resolving mental clutter.
3. Plan Expenses and Save
AI is not a financial advisor, but it can help you finally understand where your money is constantly going. If you write down your monthly income and expenses, it can calculate how much you can realistically save and where to cut back without painful compromises. For example, you can tell it ‘I have 1800 euros monthly, I spend 700 on rent and 300 on food. Create an expense table and a proposal on how to save 150 euros monthly. Add an explanation.’ The AI tool may not understand finances, but with detailed instructions, it can provide surprisingly useful simulations.
Pro tip: For small entrepreneurs, it can create a basic financial plan with projections of income and expenses, as well as a savings plan for, say, a trip.
4. Learn Whatever You Want, at Your Own Pace
Since it is very easy to fall into the trap of doom scrolling while, for example, searching for tutorials on YouTube or any other platform, AI can jump in to help and become a personal tutor that adapts to your pace, interests, and level of knowledge. You can tell it, for example: ‘I want to learn the basics of artificial intelligence in 10 days. I have 45 minutes a day,’ and you will receive a clear learning plan by days, with suggested topics and explanations in Croatian.
