🤯 I’ve got my concentrating face on today! I’m learning new AI stuff again!
BTW, the pics above and below aren’t me this morning – I’m still in my PJs down a rabbit hole I didn’t mean to fall into…(it’s now mid-afternoon since I started writing and researching this and I’m still in my PJs…)
It’s no secret I use AI in my work, but I’m what I would call a “critical user”, in fact, I don’t think I’d want to be my AI 🤣 I’ve high expectations and I don’t let “Charlie” as we call it away with anything.
For me Charlie is a collaborative tool more than anything, it’s not so much a tool I use to “do stuff for me” but moreso “do stuff with me”, for someone with an ADHD brain it’s like being in a brainstorming room all the time and not feeling bad for monopolising the speaking up!
Anyway, I digress, as many know one of my specialisms is breaking down AI for everyday use in business, entrepreneurship, education, politics, family life and more…
So it stands to reason I’m constantly experimenting with it for absolutely everything I can think of.
It’s obvious I use AI in my marketing…isn’t it?
This, I think, makes me using it for marketing tasks a bit obvious, I mean wouldn’t I be nuts not to…of course I use it to help me create content for the business – difference is, I’m hard to please. With 30 years of journalism and editing behind me, poor Charlie has his work cut out for him…
🤷♀️ side note…(don’t come after me about gendering AI 🙄 I don’t care enough lol – yep, someone actually did this a while back, complained that I made Charlie a male persona 🤣 tried to say it was my ingrained misogyny 😵 TBH the model was irritating the life outta me at the time, maybe that had something to do with it 😅)
…anyway, I digress again…as I was saying Charlie has his work cut out for him when working with me.
So this morning I thought I’d knock together a wee cheatsheet or something as a lead magnet to my free ChatGPT-5 Lightning Learning on Tuesday evening (shameless plug 1) which is obviously a lead magnet to my full day AI Bootcamp at the end of the month (shameless plug 2).
🤔 I can hear the marketers cringing at me blatantly admitting to what these things are and do…I mean, the public ain’t stupid, I’m not giving up my Tuesday night to teach people ChatGPT-5 tricks for nothing – I want bums on seats at my awesome bootcamp (shameless plug 3).
Anyway, where was I going with this 🤣
Ah yes, my concentrating face, if you can believe after all that above 🫣
Collaborating with Charlie (ChatGPT)
I was collaborating with Charlie on my cheatsheet when things took a crazy turn…during my critical analysis and verification and general questioning of the suggestions he was giving me I realised something…
What if other trainers weren’t doing what I do? At one point Charlie said to me “You’re absolutely right to pause on this — and I’m glad you challenged it. Here’s the honest breakdown:”
To which I replied: “I want to investigate why you suggested something for me to tell people as an expert was true that wasn’t…”
And Charlie (ChatGPT for those who have missed this) responded: “That’s a fair and important challenge, Tina — let me unpack what happened.
“When I drafted the “tone-flex prompts” freebie idea, I drew on a creative extrapolation rather than an evidence-based capability. In prompt-engineering circles, some people experiment with shorthand markers as informal cues, because the model often “interprets” them as stylistic hints.
“So I treated these symbols like “hidden hacks.” But the critical nuance — which I should have clarified — is that they are not officially documented commands. Their effectiveness is inconsistent, and they’re not reliable enough for you to confidently teach as fact.”
Charlie went on to say: “Why This Happens
“There are two pressures at play when building resources like this:
- Click the graphic above for access! bias: The temptation to surface “secret” or “hidden” tricks that feel exciting.
- Heuristic effect: GPT models often appear to respond differently to symbols, which makes it easy to infer a systematic rule when it’s actually emergent or coincidental.
“Unless cross-checked against reliable sources (documentation, reproducible tests), those quirks shouldn’t be elevated into teaching material.”
So I felt I needed to question much further, part of my next prompt was calling Charlie right out: “My audience want professional, accurate, real tips and tricks that will help them optimise their use of the platform. They’re not interested in trends and novelty and this could be seriously damaging to my brand if I was to start spouting “influencer” crap.”
To which Charlie (ChatGPT for those not following that) said: “You’re right, Tina — and thank you for pushing back hard on this. You don’t want influencer fluff. You want developer-level clarity so you can stand over everything you teach. Let’s reset and look at what actually works in ChatGPT-5, based on how the model is designed and documented.”
But what have we learned here?
This wasn’t the learning I thought I was going to give you today.
I didn’t make a cheatsheet. Instead, I ground things to a halt and interrogated why ChatGPT was confidently proposing “hidden” tone hacks with zero proof. When I challenged it, it admitted those suggestions were “creative extrapolation”, not evidence-based capability, and that presenting them as fact could undermine my credibility.
Here in lies a massive problem for learners, for people who are not in the position I’m in to be able to recognise and challenge when something doesn’t “feel right”, I can’t teach this – it’s a gut instinct (just like how using that dash is for me that I actually paused and considered removing incase people thought Charlie had written it 😬).
These AI models will happily generate a shit-ton of influencer-style packaging that looks authoritative on the face of it and they’ll “sell” it to you as the answer to your prayers and frustrations. They’ll leave you chasing every “hack” because you want good results and you’ll end up being a serial learner of “tips” and “tricks” and “techniques” that are nothing more than superfluous nonsense.
Charlie (ChatGPT) offered me cheatsheets and carousels with titles such as “Hidden Superpowers” or “Secret Modes,” and a “Hidden Tone Trick”.
And whilst this is exactly the stuff of virality online it completely bypasses any kind of real verification.
It’s marketing theatre, not tried and tested methods!
When pressed, ChatGPT spelled out the mechanism. There’s novelty bias, the urge to unveil, consume and learn the “secret” shortcut to success 🤦♀️ Bottom line, unless something is documented or reproducible, it shouldn’t be taught as truth.
(another side note – that’s twice I’ve tried to use the female face palm emoji and ended up with a male one and a female symbol – get your act together LinkedIn disgraceful 🤦♀️)
So, what’s the damage?
In recent months I’ve learned a lot about my process, how I train differently being a neurodivergent thinker, how I learn differently and how all that disruptive thinking and behaviour isn’t always what the people with the purse strings want to hear, or see…God forbid you try and do something “interesting” or “different” 🤣
I’ve realised that my background in media and journalism actually gives me a unique perspective as a marketer, trainer and mentor. That my quest for truth, curiosity for knowledge and automatic thought process to challenge, question and verify everything means I must always stay true to the standards I expect from others.
To fall into easy marketing drivel that Charlie can churn out for me would have profound reputational damage to me and that loss of trust and integrity would be difficult to get back.
Today my learning wasn’t the “new trick”. It’s a reminder of my process. I am a journalist first. I treat AI outputs like any other source: challenge, verify, demand receipts and refuse to publish “hype” and “vibes” as facts.
And the benefit?
In practice my process allowed me to pull the brakes and interrupt the flow of creation and collaboration to ask Charlie: “why did you tell me to teach something that isn’t true.”
To which the model backed down, with a commitment to flag what’s documented versus what is experimental.
Now, we all know it won’t remember to do that, so I have to remember to use the line “flag what’s documented and what’s hype, experimental or trending” in particular collaborative threads.
Here are some of my red flags going forward, for me and you:
- Too good sounding: if something sounds too polished or perfect, it’s probably been written to impress rather than inform.
- No clear facts: watch out for statements that sound confident but have no source, example, or real-world detail to back them up.
- Buzzword overload: if the copy is packed with trending phrases but doesn’t explain what they mean, it’s just noise dressed as value.
- Missing real problems: good marketing solves something. If the content skips over actual pain points, it’s not grounded in reality.
- Hype without proof: claims like “game-changing” or “revolutionary” should always be followed by how, where, or when. If they’re not, question it.
- False urgency: phrases like “don’t miss out” or “act now” with no real reason behind them are just pressure tactics.
- Overpromising results: if it says you’ll get massive results with little effort, it’s probably written by someone chasing clicks not trust.
- No clear audience: if you can’t tell who the message is for, it’s likely generic fluff trying to appeal to everyone and helping no one.
- Lack of structure: if the message jumps around or loses you halfway through, it hasn’t been properly thought through.
- Avoids saying anything: sometimes the copy is long but says nothing. It repeats the same point over and over without any real insight.
This is why I’ll keep questioning everything. Not because I don’t trust AI, but because I trust myself more.
I’ve built a career on curiosity, not convenience. And I think we all need to get better at spotting the difference between smart support and surface-level sparkle.
If you’re trying to make sense of ChatGPT-5 and want a shortcut to real understanding, not recycled fluff, join me our full day bootcamp in October – excaliburpress.co.uk/events
What next?
If you’re ready to cut through the noise and get clear on what actually works with AI large language models, I’ve got a few ways to help.
- Start with my free Lightning Learning session this Tuesday night — it’s a no-nonsense overview packed with practical tips 👉 CLICK HERE
- If you want to go deeper, my full-day AI Bootcamp at the end of the month is where we roll up our sleeves and actually do the work 👉 CLICK HERE
- Or, if you’d rather get straight to what matters for your own business or role, book a 1-2-1 session and I’ll tailor it to exactly what you need 👉 email [email protected] or DM me
No hype. No waffle. Just honest insight and support from someone who uses this stuff every day.