I really enjoy playing with AI – Artificial Intelligence. ChatGPT has become my companion all day while I work, and even when I need a recipe. I can tell it I have exactly 3 pounds of MacIntosh apples and ask it for an apple crisp recipe for that amount of apples. It’s brilliant!

My favourite go-to when I’m testing out new AI models is to ask it to draw a log cabin on the moon. Some of the renders are hilarious! Here’s an example of the prompt I provide:

Can you please make a photo of a Canadian log cabin, on the moon. Put an image of earth up in the sky, like the way the moon would look on earth. Make the log cabin cozy looking, with a campfire outside, and a wood pile. Bonus points if you put me in the image somewhere.

ChatGPT

You can ask it to tweak elements of the image, and it will produce an entirely new vision. Like in this example, I asked it: “Could you add a husky on the porch?”. This was the result:

Want to be more absurd? Yeah. Me too.

“I’d like to grow carrots on the roof on my cabin, can you add the carrots?”

“Can you make it less whimsical and more photo-like?”

X Grok

X’s Grok is another AI tool I’ve been exploring recently. It isn’t quite as sophisticated as ChatGPT, but let’s see what you think:

I asked this one to add a husky to the porch:

It seems to have forgotten about being on the moon? I mean, I was absurd, but trees? And snow? What happened here.

I asked it “Can you make it look a little more moonscape like?” Here we go:

Well, there are still trees and snow, but cool, right? It does seem to consistently lose some context as I ask it to further refine things. Let’s see if can plant carrots on my roof.

“I’d really like to grow carrots on my cabin’s roof. Can you add them to the photo?”

Ladies and gentlemen. We may have a winner here!

These AI models can be confidently wrong, yet always polite? I can ChatGPT programming questions all day and it almost always is helpful. This has made my work more efficient. Rather than doing Google searches for similar needs, and getting lost in 30+ Stack Overflow browser tabs, I can specifically ask ChatGPT questions and provide as much context as it needs. I can give it entire functions I’ve drafted in code and ask it why this is giving y as an answer when I was expecting x, and it is very helpful at either blatantly finding my logic issue, or giving me some potential ideas of what my problem might be. It’s almost like having another programmer sharing my office, so I can pick their brain all day, yet not interrupt their workflow 😆

Other times, I may come across a programming function that I just can’t make heads or tails of, and I can just ask it what this code is doing, and it will explain it. It is so helpful and handy and I love it. It’s made learning so much easier!

I pay for access to each of these models. ChatGPT just because it is my new daily electronic companion. And I have access to Grok because I subscribe to X/Twitter Premium (so I can access the tool formerly known as Tweetdeck) and it comes along with it.

ChatGPT has a memory system, so it gets to know you, allowing you to do things like this:

“Could you write a brief bio for me based on what you know about me?”

Lisa Schuyler is a software engineer, outdoor enthusiast, and blogger at Lisa.blog. Based in a remote northern town, she blends her love for technology and creativity with interests in local history, forestry, and fitness pursuits. Lisa is known for her knack for solving WordPress development challenges, including modern plugin and REST API integrations. Beyond tech, she enjoys experimenting with new kitchen gadgets, serving at community events, and envisioning whimsical scenarios—like cozy log cabins on the moon. When not at work, you’ll find her hiking, strength training, or writing thoughtful pieces reflecting her journey and passions.

One more cabin for good measure, the Jetpack plugin, with WordPress, can also generate an image for you. This is particularly handy if you write a post with only text but would like a featured image for your post. I asked it to make a “Canadian log cabin on the moon, with a husky on the porch.” Here you go!

One of my other favourite AI tools, which I also have a paid subscription for, is Perplexity. It doesn’t generate images, but will go and do all your research for you. It is particularly helpful when you need analysis done.

For most of these tools, I don’t think they are really the “AI” that you fear. They are tools that take advantage of our progress with computing power. I can see them quickly evolving how we use browser search engines. Rather than type in keywords and then sift through pages and pages of websites that may be related, now you can just ask a question and get an answer. They are fabulous!

Are you using any AI tools? Tell me about your experiences!