I'm going to say something that might cost me some followers.
I've dropped hints here and there. I've been careful. I've watched a lot of marketers tiptoe around it, hedge their bets, and post the same vague "AI is a tool" content over and over.
So I'm just going to say it.
It's not that bad.
If you decide to unfollow me, doubt my work, or quietly mute me after reading this, I get it. Truly. But I'd rather tell you the truth about how I actually work than pretend I'm above using the tools that exist in 2026.
Let me explain.
For Context: I Use AI Every Day
Claude is pinned in my browser. I open it the same way I open my email. It's part of my workflow, and has been for a while now.
That's the honest version.
The dishonest version is the one where I pretend my content magically appears, my brainstorms happen in a vacuum, and I personally hand-research every recipe and idea that crosses my desk.
That version isn't real. And I'd rather be honest with you than perform a version of marketing that doesn't exist anymore.
But Also: Misuse of AI Is Rampant
Here's where my hot take gets nuanced.
AI is not the problem. The way people are using AI is the problem.
The internet is currently flooded with AI-generated content that's bland, soulless, and immediately recognizable. People are using AI to write emails to their friends. To craft wedding toasts. To respond to their own clients. To design social media graphics that all look like the same beige, vaguely-corporate template.
The issue isn't that AI exists. The issue is that people are outsourcing the parts of their life that were supposed to be theirs.
There's a difference between using AI to save time and using AI to replace yourself. One is a tool. The other is a personality crisis.
What I Refuse to Use AI For
For all my pro-AI energy, I have hard lines. Here's where I won't use it:
1. Anything personal.
AI knows nothing about my personal life. It doesn't know about my friendships. It doesn't know about my relationship or my family or my fears or my Saturday plans. The closest thing to a personal update I've ever given AI is what's in my pantry when I'm trying to figure out girl dinner.
That's it. That's the line.
2. Designing my social media posts.
Everything I create for EleVault and my clients is designed by hand. Period.
We can all see past AI design at this point. The copy is generic. The layout looks flat and soulless. The composition feels like it was generated by someone who's never actually held a camera. Your audience knows.
If I'm going to put EleVault's name on something, it's going to look like a human made it. Because a human did.
3. Writing emails to actual humans.
I don't think this one needs much explanation. If you can't take the three minutes to write a real email, that's a you problem. Not a productivity problem.
What I DO Use AI For
Now the fun part. Here's where AI earns its keep in my world.
1. Batch brainstorming content ideas 90 days out.
When I'm planning content for EleVault, our clients, or this blog, I use AI to help me brainstorm. I'll throw out a theme or focus for each month, ask for 20 angles on it, and then pick a few that I actually want to speak on. The other 17 get tossed.
That's the whole game. AI generates volume. I bring the taste.
2. Title brainstorming.
Coming up with 15 different title variations is the kind of task that used to eat an hour of my day. Now it eats six minutes. The AI doesn't pick the title. I do. But it gives me the raw material faster than my brain could on its own.
3. Emergency recipe searches.
This one is my favorite. It's 7pm, I have three random items in my fridge, and I do not want to order takeout for the third time this week.
I open Claude. I tell it what I have. It tells me what to make. That's not creativity being outsourced. That's just a better Google.
4. Goofy creative gimmicks.
There is, currently, a framed AI-generated photo in my guest bathroom of my dog with a towel wrapped around his head like he just got out of the shower.
Did I make it by hand? No. Was it a creative human moment of "this would be hilarious"? Absolutely.
When I use AI creatively, the gimmick is the point.
It's intentional. It's playful. And it's clearly not pretending to be something it's not.
The Rule I Live By
Here's my framework, and you can steal it:
1. I use AI where it speeds up a process and saves me time.
2. I don't use AI where creativity, emotion, or actual humanity is required.
Which, when I look at my life honestly, is probably 95% of it.
The marketing strategy is mine. The brand voice is mine. The client relationships are mine. The way I think about problems, the things I care about, the stories I tell, the opinions I hold? All mine.
But the title brainstorms? The first draft of a list of ideas? The recipe based on my three sad pantry items? Have at it, robots.
The Take, Restated
AI is a tool. A very powerful one. Like every powerful tool before it, it can be used well or used poorly.
Used well, it gives you back time. It gets you out of your own way on the busywork. It lets you focus on the parts of your work that actually need a human.
Used poorly, it makes everything sound the same, look the same, and feel the same. It strips the humanity out of work that was supposed to have humanity in it. And it slowly trains us to outsource the things that were supposed to make us, us.
The difference between the two isn't the AI.
It's the person using it.
You don't need to be anti-AI to be a real human. You just need to remember which parts of your life are supposed to stay yours.
That's it. That's the hot take.
I told you it wasn't that bad.
Until next time, Nina
📚 Currently reading: Iron Flame (yes, I'm on book two!)
🎧 Currently listening to: Rotten Mango
🍷 Currently sipping: A lavender latte, made by a person, not a robot