It’s impossible to do anything these days without AI. Either somebody is talking about it or you’re interacting with something AI generated. Even more commonly, I’ve started to notice AI prompts appearing. In some places, the AI option remains always visible and ready. Other places, the AI takes a more active role.
Earlier today I realized I forgot to reply to an agency that reached out regarding a new job opportunity a few days ago. The job posting wasn’t a good fit. Replying felt low on my to-do list. I also didn’t want to ignore the email and leave it unanswered. Even though I’m not actively job searching, I always like to keep up the relationships with former employers. In short, I was kind of dreading writing this small reply, even though I knew it would only take about a minute.
Today, however, when I opened it with the intention of replying, AI swooped in for the win! When I hit reply, a small pen icon appeared with the magic words written in a faint gray font “Help me write” Swipe –>.

I swiped right and a prompt box automatically appeared.

I initially typed in “regrets”, but the prompt needed at least three words to perform. Next, I typed something like “turn down offer.” Almost before I finished typing the “r”, a message appeared politely thanking the agency for the offer before turning it down. I read it, added in a couple lines, and fired it off. Tedious, boring task completed with minimal procrastination! Impressive!
Normally I find AI’s presence obtrusive, most of the time because it’s just there. Often, there’s no obvious way to disable it. Most of the time, there’s no choice about if I even want to engage with AI. This time, however, I felt appreciative for its ease of use and quick, decent sounding reply with minimal effort.
Getting caught up in all the fantastical and futuristic uses for AI is easy. In reality, the biggest impact is likely handling everyday, routine, somewhat boring, tedious things. Low priority tasks that need to be finished, but that nobody wants to do. Though it does make me wonder how our expectations will change to accommodate these new easy, features. Will instant replies be the norm? What if me and the recipient both use automatic AI-replies? Our AIs would have an exchange without our human participation. How weird is that!