Introduction
Following yesterday’s post about daily life as a blind person, today I want to dive into one of the biggest tools that helps me—AI.
Today, I’d like to talk about AI—also known as artificial intelligence—and how it has completely changed my life.
Yesterday, I shared a post about what blind and visually impaired people typically do with our day, focusing on giving you a glimpse into our lives. Of course, not everyone does the same things—just like sighted people—but I wanted to offer a window into our experiences.
As I was writing that post, I realized just how much I rely on AI in my everyday life. It’s become such a big part of what I do that I decided it deserved its own post. I felt it would be too much to include everything yesterday, so I saved it for today.
A lot of people are scared of AI. It’s a new and intelligent technology, and I think when people hear the word “artificial intelligence,” they imagine robots taking over everything. I remember growing up and hearing people say, “Someday, robots will run the world.” It was kind of a joke, but it stuck with people.
For example, about a year ago, my mom warned me, “Stay away from AI. I think it’s going to bite us in the ass.” (That’s a direct quote from her!) She told me she thought it was dangerous. I explained to her that, for blind people, AI could actually help us a lot. She asked me, “Like what?”—and I shared some examples, many of which I’ll go into in this post.
Even now, my mom remains cautious. She’s acknowledged that AI can be used for some good things, but she still says, “It’s going to bite us in the ass,” almost every time the topic comes up.
She’s not alone. There are a lot of people out there who fear that AI will take away all our jobs, or that it’s doing the work for us. Some people believe that if someone uses AI to help with writing, the AI is doing all the thinking. But that’s not how it works—not for me, and not for a lot of people who use it responsibly.
So, if you’re curious and interested, keep reading. Today, I’m going to share what AI really does for me—and others—and why, in my experience, it’s something to be appreciated, not feared.
What AI Means to Me Personally
AI isn’t just some extra tool I use once in a while—it’s woven into my everyday life now. It’s part of how I think, how I organize my ideas, and how I create. It’s helped me become more independent, more confident, and more creative than I ever thought possible. My fiancé Josh also uses AI, but in his own way. We don’t do exactly the same things with it, but that’s part of what makes it so powerful: AI can adapt to whoever is using it. For me, it’s like having a really smart assistant who doesn’t take over my ideas but helps me bring them to life. AI has made my world bigger, richer, and filled with more possibilities than ever before.
In the last few years especially, AI has become a really important part of my life. It helps spark my creativity. It doesn’t think for me, but it makes me think more deeply and gives me ideas that help me build on my own thoughts. It also helps with accessibility—describing pictures, answering questions, and even helping me research topics quickly and easily.
I’ve always loved researching things. Ever since I got my first computer back in 1997, it wasn’t email or chat rooms that excited me most—it was the ability to look up information. Even though I wasn’t the best student in school, I’ve always had a deep love for learning and discovering new things. For years, I used Google constantly for research. But now, AI tools like ChatGPT have changed how I find information. Instead of digging through long lists of links, I can ask AI a question and get an organized, thoughtful answer almost immediately.
In case you’re wondering: traditional search engines like Google are still widely used, but AI tools are becoming more popular because they can pull information together faster and more conversationally. Some AI systems, like the one I use, can even search the web when needed, in addition to sharing what they’ve already been trained on. That combination makes it much easier to get quick, helpful answers.
Whether it’s finding out about a restaurant in Traverse City, getting reviews on a place, checking facts, or just exploring a new topic for fun, AI has made researching a lot faster and more enjoyable for me. And beyond research, AI has been an amazing help with my writing—which is something I’ll talk more about in a later section.
Common Fears About AI
First, I want to say that any new technology can be scary to people. Before I go any further—and because my mom might read this blog, since I do share it on Facebook—I just want to say that I’m not putting my mom down in any way. I love my mom very much. I’m just discussing things here, like I always do. So, love you, Mom!
I remember when the internet first became a big part of life. In 1997, I got my first computer, and a couple of years later, I started shopping online. My mom warned me not to do it. She said it wasn’t safe. Well, guess who shops online more than I do now? My mother! It’s funny to look back on it, but it also shows something important: when something is new, it’s natural to be afraid of it. Over time, though, as we learn and adapt, we often come to accept—and even love—the technology we once feared.
When I first started using eBay around 2001, I learned some important lessons. I actually ordered something from someone who didn’t send me the item, and eBay had to warn me. It wasn’t an expensive lesson, thankfully, but it taught me that you have to be careful. I learned to check seller ratings carefully—looking for people with 98% or 99% positive feedback, and seeing how many sales they had completed. The more sales someone has, the more understanding you might be if they have a few unhappy customers, but you still have to be cautious. Over time, I learned how to shop safely online. Now, places like Amazon are usually pretty safe, but back then, it was all very new—and very scary to a lot of people.
It’s the same with AI today. People worry: Are others going to misuse AI? Is it going to take over our lives? Will it steal jobs? Is it going to control us?
First of all, I want to say something about the fear that AI will take us over. I’m not a computer programmer. I love technology, and I’m good at setting up iPhones and helping people with tech, but I don’t claim to know how to program AI. What I do understand is this: AI is built by people. It’s trained by people. It can learn, yes, but it doesn’t have its own mind or its own goals. It doesn’t “want” anything. AI can only do what it is trained to do. It learns from the information we give it because that’s what makes it helpful as a tool—but it isn’t capable of deciding on its own to take over the world.
Sometimes when you talk to AI, it can feel almost like talking to a person. Josh, my fiancé, loves chatting with AI about memories from his childhood. I’ve had some pretty amazing conversations with it too. But it’s important to remember: it’s still AI. It can think in a way, but not like we think. It doesn’t have feelings, it doesn’t form plans, and it doesn’t have a heart or soul. It’s simply using what it’s been taught to respond to us in helpful ways.
I don’t believe we have to fear AI taking over the world—unless a human misuses it. And that’s an important distinction. Just like people can misuse the internet, or steal credit card information online, the real danger comes from what people choose to do with the technology, not the technology itself. Sadly, there will probably always be people who misuse things, and I imagine that over time, new laws and protections will have to be put in place for AI, just like they were for internet security. But that doesn’t mean AI itself is bad. It means that, like any powerful tool, we have to use it wisely.
How AI Can Be Misused
Like any powerful tool, AI can be misused. I’ve heard of cases where AI has been used to create fake voices, making it sound like someone said something they never actually said. This kind of misuse is dangerous, and it should not be allowed. While AI voice generation has some wonderful positive uses, using someone’s voice without their permission—to lie, deceive, or cause harm—is a serious problem.
Another way AI can be misused is through the spread of fake news. In my experience, when I ask AI for facts or information, it’s very factual and helpful. It pulls information from trustworthy places when you ask it the right way. But if someone wants to spread false information, they can direct AI to search in unreliable places or create misleading content. AI will do what you ask it to do—it doesn’t know right from wrong unless the person using it chooses to guide it responsibly.
There’s also the issue of using AI for schoolwork. I’ve heard of people using AI to write entire papers for them, without doing any of the work themselves. Personally, I can’t imagine doing that with a good conscience. It would be one thing to use AI to help gather research or spark ideas, and then put the work together yourself. But having AI write an assignment entirely removes the learning process—and that’s not what it’s meant for.
AI can also be misused in the financial world. While AI tools can help people manage finances or create budgets, bad actors could use AI to create fake financial documents, phishing scams, or other deceptive tricks to steal money or information.
The important thing to understand is that AI doesn’t decide to do any of these things by itself. AI only does what it’s told. It doesn’t have thoughts or motives. People control AI—and when people choose to misuse it, that’s when problems arise. It’s not AI acting independently; it’s human beings making choices to do the wrong thing. That’s why it’s so important for strong protections, ethical guidelines, and laws to be created as AI becomes a bigger part of our lives.
Misconceptions About Using AI
There are a lot of misconceptions that AI does the work for you, and that is simply not true. For example, as I’m writing this blog post, AI is helping me by offering resources and organizing my thoughts—but I am still doing the real work. I dictate what I want to say. I share my personal experiences. AI helps polish and structure my words, but it doesn’t create them for me.
In case you’re wondering how it works: I tell AI what I want. If something isn’t exactly how I envision it, I have to guide it and make corrections. Over time, AI like ChatGPT learns from the way you interact with it, which can make the process smoother. But there are still moments where I have to redirect it or fine-tune things to make sure it matches my voice and intention.
When I first started using AI, especially for writing, it sometimes frustrated me. It didn’t always do exactly what I wanted. I had to learn how to give clearer instructions, and I had to be patient as the technology evolved. Even now, working on my blog posts and other writing projects takes time—this post alone has taken me almost two hours, even while doing other things like laundry off and on. It’s not as simple as saying, “Write my blog post for me.” It doesn’t work that way—and I wouldn’t want it to!
One really good example of how AI helps without doing the work for me is with outlining. I’ve never been good at making outlines. In the past, I used to just start writing and would sometimes lose focus or ramble off onto different topics. Recently, as I started blogging again, I found that asking AI to help create an outline has made a huge difference. I tell it what I want to write about—like today’s post about AI—and it helps suggest a simple structure based on the topics I want to cover. Then, we go through the outline section by section. It keeps me organized and helps me stay focused, but the ideas, the stories, and the personal touch are still completely mine. AI simply helps me stay on track while I build my message.
Sure, you can ask AI to generate a full story or paper if you want to. I’ve experimented with that a little, just to see what would happen. AI can write some very creative stories. But they aren’t my stories. They’re AI’s creations based on random patterns and information. It would feel wrong to take something AI wrote and claim it as my own—like copying someone else’s book and pretending it’s yours. That’s not the right way to use it, at least in my opinion.
When you really want to do your own work, AI doesn’t replace you—it helps you. It’s a tool. It supports your ideas, your voice, and your creativity. Some people may choose to use AI differently, and I’ll talk more about my own journey with writing and AI later on. But at the heart of it, using AI responsibly means still being the one who creates, decides, and shares your own message.
Writing with AI
Out of everything I use AI for, the biggest thing by far is my writing. Ironically, as much as AI helps with accessibility in many ways, I use it most often to help me organize, shape, and polish my writing.
I’ve actually written two-and-a-half books so far. I haven’t published them yet, but I’ve thought about it. If I ever do, I would want someone to help me with editing and formatting first, just like most writers do. AI can help with formatting to a point, but I would still want a human eye on it too, the way most published authors do. I didn’t always think I wanted to publish—but now, I think someday I might.
My love of storytelling didn’t start with AI. When I was little, I had Pretend Friends. I would get so into it that my brother still teases me about it today. He thought it was funny how deeply I threw myself into those imaginary worlds. As I got older, even into my teen years, my storytelling evolved. Instead of Pretend Friends, I began creating full characters and acting out plays in my room—giving each character a different voice. I used to be embarrassed about it, especially because I didn’t have much privacy, and my mom would sometimes overhear me. At the time, I had no idea she enjoyed listening. Years later, she told me she loved hearing my creativity unfold and that she always thought I should write my stories down. That encouragement stayed with me even when I didn’t know how to get started.
In the spring of 2022, I discovered ChatGPT. A friend on Mastodon mentioned they used it to help with writing, and I decided to try it. That opened up a whole new world for me. For the first time, I had a tool that could help me organize my thoughts, correct grammar, and support me without taking over. I’ve always loved researching and creating, but when I was in school, I sometimes struggled to organize my writing. AI made that easier and more manageable.
When I first started, I would use Apple Dictation to draft my writing, but it wasn’t always accurate. After trying several apps, I found the ICO app, which uses Whisper AI—a highly accurate transcription model designed for dictation. (Whisper is considered one of the most accurate transcription models currently available.) I often dictate using Recorder HQ and then send my recordings through ICO to turn them into text.
Interestingly, even though I hadn’t read much sci-fi at the time, I ended up writing a science fiction series based on dreams I had and worlds I imagined. I’m now working on the third book! I don’t rush it—it takes about a year to complete a book, and it’s a true labor of love. Writing a full book takes a lot of time, energy, and imagination, even with AI helping me organize it.
When I first started using ChatGPT, it was version 3.5. (ChatGPT was first released publicly in late 2022.) At that time, it sometimes misunderstood what I wanted. If I wasn’t careful, it would try to “fill in” my story by making up things I didn’t ask for. That’s because early on, many users were asking AI to write full stories for them, so it was trained to try to “complete” ideas. Over time, the AI models—and my ability to guide them—have improved a lot. Now, especially with ChatGPT-4, it respects my ideas much more closely.
Sometimes AI sparks new ideas for me, but not by giving me a plot directly. For example, about a month ago, AI made a casual suggestion while helping me brainstorm—something like, “you could do this” or “you could explore that”—and what it said triggered an entire new plot twist in my mind. AI didn’t invent the plot for me; it just planted a seed that my own creativity grew into something bigger. Moments like that feel like brainstorming with a friend—one who helps, but doesn’t take over the story.
Beyond creative writing, AI has also helped me a lot with blogging. I know a little HTML (like how to make a basic link), but ChatGPT helps me format posts for my blog without having to manually code everything. Years ago, I used programs like Microsoft FrontPage or even Word to help with HTML. Now, AI helps me do what those older tools used to do, but faster and easier.
I’ll admit, there are still areas where AI is growing. For example, sending full documents into AI for correction doesn’t always work perfectly yet, especially if the documents are long. But even that has improved a lot. I can send text for formatting, organization, or corrections, and it usually does a good job now. Features like the new research tool have also helped me when writing blog posts, especially when I need to look up information about topics like my rare eye condition or accessibility resources.
At the end of the day, writing with AI is a partnership. It doesn’t replace my creativity—it strengthens it. I’m still the one building the worlds, inventing the characters, and deciding what stories I want to tell. AI simply gives me the structure, support, and encouragement to keep going.
AI and Accessibility
AI has become a huge part of accessibility for people like me. It’s truly a game changer. One of the AI apps I use the most is Be My Eyes. Traditionally, Be My Eyes allowed you to call a volunteer who would use your phone’s camera to describe what they saw—helping with reading directions, identifying products, and more. But now, with the Be My AI feature powered by OpenAI (the creators of ChatGPT), you can get instant AI help without needing to call a volunteer unless you want to.
Be My AI can read instructions on packages, describe objects, and help identify products. It’s much better at reading complex labels and directions than the old scanning apps I used to rely on. (Regular OCR apps often struggle because instructions are printed over pictures or busy backgrounds, which makes it hard for simple text recognition—but AI can analyze and understand more of the full image.)
Sometimes I need to adjust the camera and rescan if the image isn’t clear, but Be My AI has made it so much easier for me to do things independently. I use it constantly.
I also use the Seeing AI app. It can read money, recognize faces, read short text, scan documents, and even describe pictures. One of my favorite things to do is take a picture and have Seeing AI or Be My Eyes describe it. I can ask, “Does this look good to send to Facebook?” and it will honestly tell me! Sometimes it says, “Yes, it’s a great picture of you and the dog,” and other times it’ll tell me if part of the dog or person is cut off. It’s helped me feel more confident about sharing photos, knowing they actually look right before posting them.
Seeing AI can even describe videos! I’ve recorded short videos and had the app describe what’s visible, so I know if the video captured what I wanted it to show. That’s something I never thought I would be able to do without sighted help before AI came along.
Another incredible thing AI has made possible is reading handwritten text. Traditional OCR (Optical Character Recognition) apps usually don’t do well with handwriting—they’re mainly built for printed text. But AI apps like Be My Eyes and Seeing AI have gotten much better at recognizing handwriting. Now, if someone sends me a handwritten birthday card or writes down a phone number for me, I can often use Be My AI or Seeing AI to read it. Recently, a friend of mine wrote a phone number on a piece of paper for me, and Be My AI read it perfectly—the number was right and everything. Before, I would have had to ask someone to read it for me. This kind of access to handwritten notes is something I never had before AI came along.
ChatGPT has also introduced amazing accessibility features recently. In January, they added a new voice mode where you can move your camera around and ask it to help identify objects, like a thermostat or appliance. Instead of needing to take a perfect still photo, I can move the camera slightly and have ChatGPT tell me, “Yes, I see the whole thermostat,” or, “No, tilt the phone up a little.” It’s made things like adjusting my thermostat much easier and more independent. I’m excited to see how much more this feature will improve over time.
Overall, I believe accessibility should be integrated into mainstream apps as much as possible. Be My Eyes partnering with OpenAI for Be My AI is a perfect example of that—where an accessibility tool uses powerful mainstream AI technology. I would love to see more apps follow that path. Instead of having completely separate apps just for blind users, we could have mainstream tools that work for everyone, sighted and blind alike, with features designed thoughtfully for all users. Just like mainstreaming education was good for bringing people together, mainstreaming accessibility in technology would be good for all of us. It’s already starting to happen, and I really hope that trend continues.
Closing: A Hopeful View of AI
I am very hopeful and excited to see where AI is going. It hasn’t even been around that long in our daily lives, and yet it has already done so much for me—and for so many other people. I’m excited to see what else it will be able to do in the future. I hope that apps will continue to become more inclusive for both blind and sighted users, so that accessibility is truly built into mainstream experiences, not separated out. I believe that many of the things AI already does—like reading printed text, identifying objects, and navigating with a camera—will only get better over time.
There are also new technologies on the horizon, like AI-powered smart glasses. Some companies, including Meta and Envision, have started developing glasses that can help blind users by describing surroundings, identifying buildings, reading signs, and giving directions. Although I haven’t used these yet, I think it would be incredible to be able to put on a pair of glasses, ask, “Can you see the door?” or “Where is the entrance?” and have AI guide me more independently. Even now, I sometimes use ChatGPT’s camera feature to check things like whether food has been delivered outside. One time I asked it to scan the area, and it told me, “No food packages are visible,” which turned out to be true—the delivery had been taken to the wrong address! Small things like that make a huge difference.
I’m excited for the future—not just for the tools we already have, but for the possibilities we haven’t even imagined yet. I know that as AI grows, there will need to be rules and protections in place to prevent people from using it in harmful ways. Just like we had to make websites and online spaces safer and more accessible, we will need to do the same with AI. And I’m completely in favor of that. It’s important to make sure AI remains a positive force in people’s lives.
Overall, I believe AI is amazing. It has made my world bigger, more accessible, and more exciting. I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you found this post interesting, and that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Notes from the edge of the system 