How I Actually Use AI

People ask me this more than I expected: "Do you use AI?"

Usually there's a pause after the question, like they're not sure which answer they're hoping for. So let me just answer directly. Yes. Constantly. But not in a way that should worry you.

Running a one-person voiceover business, or any business, means I am, on any given day, the marketing department, the IT department, the bookkeeper, the social media manager, the person who has to figure out why Audition suddenly won't recognize my interface, oh, and the talent. Nobody hands you a team when you go independent. You either learn to be five people (clones?), or you find tools that help you act like it.

For me, that tool is AI. Claude and ChatGPT are my primary assistants. Here's an honest list of what that actually looks like:

I use AI to draft cover letters and create templates, so I'm not starting from scratch every time I apply for something. I use it to help write copy for VO samples and promotional videos. When a monthly analytics report lands in my inbox, I use AI to make sense of the numbers instead of just staring at them. AI is great at recognizing patterns, like which content gets the most impressions or the best time to post. I use it to think through time management, especially on weeks when the booth, the blog, the newsletter, and paying clients are all competing for the same three hours.

I use it to build out my social media strategy — not to write everything for me, but to think through what's working, what isn't, and why. When I hit a wall in Adobe Audition, I use it to troubleshoot before I lose an hour to trial and error. Same with CapCut, same with Canva — tools I use constantly but didn't grow up on, so having something to walk me through a feature in real time saves real time. For new software, I have Claude break it down step by step so I can understand how to use it. I even use it to sharpen search terms on LinkedIn, so I can find potential contacts within a very specific market.

None of this replaces my voice, my judgment, or my read of a script. It replaces the hours I used to lose figuring things out alone, in a business where alone is the default setting.

I think a lot of people are quietly avoiding this conversation, worried that saying "I use AI" sounds like an admission of guilt. It isn't. The work I put in the booth is still entirely mine. What's changed is everything around it — the parts of running a business that used to eat the hours I'd rather spend on that work. AI is saving me time, but that just means I'm working 50 hrs/week instead of 60.

So yes. I use AI. For nearly everything except the things that matter.