Before I return to the gen AI topic as promised, I’ve got some exciting news: the pre-launch page for my upcoming Kickstarter campaign is up! You can check it out at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ericpcaillibot/world-of-kiynan and click the “Notify me on launch” button to get a reminder when it starts. I’ll be sharing a lot more about the campaign in future newsletters, but I wanted to start spreading the news right away.

Now, remember last month when I opened that particular can of worms about gen AI? Well, the good news is we’re all still here, and the world hasn’t ended, despite the controversy. I promised I would write about how this whole AI learning curve has also been useful in my day job, so here we are.

For those just joining the conversation: yes, the technology is here to stay whether we like it or not, and I’m committed to being transparent about how I navigate this new landscape.

The Intentional Crossover

Like most(?) people, I was curious about gen AI as soon as I heard about it. I wasn’t sure how it could be useful to me at first, so I spent time experimenting with these tools in my TTRPG projects, just to see. I wanted to build knowledge I could apply to my day job as a program manager in tech, since it was clear from the outset that it would become a valuable (and probably unavoidable) skill in the corporate world.

I ended up spending a lot of time accomplishing nothing at first, but it helped me understand what the tools are actually good at, where they fall flat, and how they were (quickly) evolving. Those experiments taught me more about working with these tools than any corporate training could (although I also ended up doing a couple of courses online for good measure), and the skills translate directly – breaking down complex projects, exploring different approaches, creating documentation (like presentations complete with illustrations).

What I Learned

The most important lesson: AI is a collaborative tool, not a replacement. Just like a friend or co-DM can help talk through ideas, gen AI works best as part of a creative partnership. The human still provides vision, judgment, and the ability to tell when something is actually good. To paraphrase David Gaughran, gen AI is less like an expert consultant and more like a team of enthusiastic interns. The tools can produce enormous amounts of very interesting work quickly and inexpensively, but it all needs to be carefully reviewed and polished before it has real value.

The Bigger Picture

Look, I’m not going to pretend I have all (or any of) the answers about where this technology is heading. What I do know is that more people understanding how it actually works is better than everyone just reacting to headlines. The more people who know how to use these tools thoughtfully, the better chance we have of this whole thing working out well for creators—and everyone else.

At the end of the day, whether we’re talking about corporate project management or designing the perfect dungeon encounter, the fundamentals haven’t changed. Good work still requires human insight, creativity, and the ability to connect with other people. Technology can make us more efficient, but it can’t make us more thoughtful, empathetic, or imaginative – those are still uniquely human contributions.

So while I’ll keep exploring how I can benefit from these tools, my core mission remains the same: creating stories for all of us to have amazing adventures, whether in our mind’s eye or around the gaming table.

Thanks for sticking with me through this whole exploration!

I’m curious – have you found yourself dealing with AI at work or in your hobbies? And for those who’ve been following along with this whole discussion, what questions do you still have about how creators are navigating this stuff?

Take care!