{"id":422,"date":"2026-08-19T04:56:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T04:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/?p=422"},"modified":"2026-08-19T04:56:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T04:56:06","slug":"what-an-early-90s-rock-tour-taught-me-about-using-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/what-an-early-90s-rock-tour-taught-me-about-using-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"What an early ’90s rock tour taught me about using AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/h1>\n

In 1992, Robert Smith of The Cure decided to hire a third guitarist.<\/p>\n

The goal was simple: ease his load so he could sing instead of fighting the guitar. He wanted to hand off some of the work.<\/p>\n

The result came out the other way.<\/p>\n

Instead of playing less, the new setup pushed him to play more. The other guitarist didn’t just soak up the old parts. He changed what the band could do.<\/p>\n

New guitar lines opened new spaces. Those spaces opened new rhythms, new textures, new demands. The added muscle changed the whole machine.<\/p>\n

The help didn’t make Smith useless.<\/p>\n

It gave him more to swing at.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why does more help sometimes create more work?<\/h2>\n

We treat tools and partners like labor absorbers.<\/p>\n

The math looks clean: add X, do less Y. Hire an assistant, answer fewer emails. Buy software, spend less time on the work. Use AI, write fewer words yourself.<\/p>\n

Works when the job is fixed. Creative work rarely is.<\/p>\n

Add capacity and you don’t just cut effort. You widen what’s possible.<\/p>\n

That gives you what I call the capacity paradox:<\/p>\n

Add capacity to a creative system and you usually open the door to harder work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The question stops being “What can I quit doing?” and becomes “What can I do now that I couldn’t before?”<\/p>\n

Better question.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The AI mistake that looks like efficiency<\/h2>\n

This is where writers blow it with AI.<\/p>\n

They treat it like a labor absorber. They want it to write the draft, pump out the posts, fill the blank page, strip out the effort.<\/p>\n

Saves time. Sure.<\/p>\n

Saving time isn’t the same as doing better work.<\/p>\n

The trap is turning into a passive editor of whatever the machine hands you. You think less. You question less. You decide less.<\/p>\n

You put out more words and contribute fewer ideas.<\/p>\n

Don’t ask AI to take the hard parts off your plate. Use it to multiply the number of real decisions you can make.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What should you do with the extra capacity?<\/h2>\n

Make AI raise the bar on your process. Not lower it.<\/p>\n

Before your next piece, put AI to work:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Spin five angles on the same idea. Pick the one with the most tension.<\/li>\n
  • Hit your weakest claim. Have AI argue against it.<\/li>\n
  • Build two or three outlines. See which one earns curiosity.<\/li>\n
  • Ask what a skeptical reader walks away wondering.<\/li>\n
  • Stress-test your logic before you publish.<\/li>\n
  • Flag the sections that read generic, then make them specific.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    AI isn’t thinking for you. It’s giving your thinking more surfaces to push against.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    The simple rule I use to avoid becoming a passenger<\/h2>\n

    Before you let AI build something, decide what job you’re hiring it for.<\/p>\n

    Options? Opposition? Organization? Feedback? Examples?<\/p>\n

    Small step, big difference. Vague prompts turn AI into a ghostwriter. Pin the role and it becomes a collaborator.<\/p>\n

    Bad: “Write a better introduction.”<\/p>\n

    Better: “Give me five tensions I could use to make this intro hit harder. Don’t rewrite it.”<\/p>\n

    You stay the writer. AI widens the field.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    The real upgrade isn’t faster writing<\/h2>\n

    That Cure lineup didn’t teach that help always means more work.<\/p>\n

    It taught that added capacity changes everything around it.<\/p>\n

    AI does the same.<\/p>\n

    Used lazy, it helps you ship acceptable work for less effort.<\/p>\n

    Used right, it lets you chase more ideas, test more assumptions, break more structures, make sharper calls than you could alone.<\/p>\n

    The best tools don’t turn you into a spectator.<\/p>\n

    They give you the capacity to run the show.<\/p>\n

    RW<\/p>\n

    .<\/p>\n

    .<\/p>\n

    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In 1992, Robert Smith of The Cure decided to hire a third guitarist. The goal was simple: ease his load so he could sing instead of fighting the guitar. He wanted to hand off some of the work. The result came out the other way. Instead of playing less, the new setup pushed him to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ai"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":425,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions\/425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/richardwinser.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}