The workshop, from the back row
The reaction I see a lot when someone tries AI on their own work for the first time.
Not one person. A mix of the reactions I see a lot in workshops and one-on-ones.
You walk in a little skeptical. Maybe a little nervous. You’ve heard AI can save you hours, and you’ve also heard it makes things up. You’re not sure which is true, and you’d rather not look silly finding out.
The first ten minutes
You sit toward the back. The screen up front shows a blank chat box, and the guy running it says to start with something from your own week.
That helps. You know your work. You just don’t know this yet.
The first try
You type something plain. The answer comes back fast and mostly right, which is a little unsettling. Then you spot one detail that’s off.
That’s usually when people relax. It was never going to be perfect. You caught the mistake, and you still know what right looks like.
The middle
Somewhere around here the questions shift, from worrying about breaking something to wondering what else it could do.
People lean over to show the person next to them. Someone tries it on a report they always put off. Someone else rewrites an email that’s been sitting for a while.
The after
The workshop gets people in the door. What usually makes it stick is a short one-on-one later, with their own screen and their own task.
From the front of the room
I’m the guy at the front. I’ve learned to watch for that shift from nervous to curious. It doesn’t happen on a schedule, and I can’t assume a demo convinced anyone, but it usually happens.
When it does, I stop talking and let people play.