AI That Actually Helps

AI has a PR problem. Say “artificial intelligence” out loud and a lot of people instantly picture robots taking over, jobs disappearing, or some confusing tech that only college kids understand. We’re not doing that today. We’re talking about the version of AI that actually shows up in real life: the tool that helps you make decisions faster, feel less overwhelmed, and get your time back.

We walk through exactly how we use ChatGPT and similar AI tools for everyday productivity, especially travel planning. Think road trip itineraries with a “no more than five hours of driving” rule, hotel preferences, printable plans, packing lists, and even quick side-by-side comparisons of vacation packages. Instead of falling into the internet rabbit hole for hours, we use AI to get a solid first draft in seconds, then ask better follow-up questions until it fits our style.

We also get into how AI supports creativity without replacing it. For podcasting, AI helps us brainstorm topics, organize thoughts, build outlines, and shape scripts when our brains feel tired, but it can’t replicate lived experience, humor, or heart. Then we bring it home to the daily stuff: meal planning, grocery lists, budgets, workout plans, closet cleanups, and “what can I make with these random fridge ingredients?” ideas. We talk candidly about why AI can feel especially helpful for older adults, including the way it explains things patiently and without judgment, while still naming what it can’t replace like doctors, relationships, and real human connection.

If you’ve been nervous about AI, come hang with us and try one small prompt today. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who swears they’re “too old for tech,” and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

Why I Fell For AI

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hey everybody, welcome back to Inside Marcy's Mind. I'm Marcy, and today we are talking about something I never thought I'd become so obsessed with, but I am AI, artificial intelligence. Yes, me. If you told me five years ago I'd be sitting here excited about AI, I would have assumed society had collapsed and robots were making soup. Oh my gosh, but honestly, I absolutely love using AI. And today I want to talk about why. Because I think a lot of people, especially people over 50 or 60, hear the words artificial intelligence and immediately panic. They think robots taking over, scary technology, confusing computers, the end of jobs, or that somehow too old to un they're too old to understand it. And honestly, I think people are missing what AI really can be: a tool, a very useful tool. There was a day where you thought walking around with a phone in your hand wasn't going to be helpful, and it is. AI can make life easier, less stressful, more creative, more organized, and honestly way more fun. And no, this is not sponsored. This is just me genuinely being amazed every single day by AI. And we're not college kids faking a paper. We don't forget all the problems that you think there are with AI. It's we're not taking anybody's job except for our own and enjoy it. So today we're going to talk about what AI actually is, how regular people can use it, why it's not just for tech people, how I use it for podcasts, travel, organization, and everyday life, and why I think learning AI now is like learning the internet years ago. And trust me, if I can use it, so can you. Honestly, it crept into my life unbelievably so. And I love it. And we'll get into that. Let's just do a quick recap. I did take my trip to California, had a great time with my oldest child, Mother's Day. We went to Mother's Day, we went to a great brunch at King's Hawaiian in Torrance. And the day before, we went to the fair, LA County Fair. We saw animals and crafting. It's, I don't know, a county fair, even if it's Los Angeles County, it's still a county fair. There's still animals, there's homemade quilts, there's all kinds of things. So much fun and great food. Just a lot, a lot of fun. I did use the Sudoku packing method. And if you don't know what that is, go to my website, marcybackusmedia.com, and it's on there. I will never pack any other way. I will never pack any other way. I it was a great way to pack. I'm already a really good packer, and you can use AI to help you with packing, and you can use AI to help you with the Sudoku packing method. But this gave me it's just great. Just look it up. I have a JPEG on my website that shows you a picture of what it could look like. And then I have a download that you can download and it tells you how to do it. It was great. I'm just gonna say that. Very happy with it. Oh um, it's a beautiful day here in Chicago. Let's see what else I got. Mr. Patrick laying here next to me. He's having his little afternoon snooze. I'm a little tired. My plane got in uh half an hour early. And what that meant is there was no gate. So then we ended up getting to the gate 10 to 15 minutes later than we should have, which meant we set out in a parking lot next to a Spirit Airlines plane for 40 minutes. When we got to baggage claim, because I do, although I do just do carry-on when Craig's not with me, I cannot lift it over my head. So I have to check it. Well, I paid for that last night. They did not get our checked bags there. We almost 11 o'clock. We were standing there for over an hour waiting for bags. Bad, bad, bad job, American Airlines. Shame on you. Here we came in a half an hour early. We got in like close to nine o'clock, and I did not end up leaving the airport for two hours by the time we sat out on the runway, went and got luggage that took forever, and there's a whole story to that. But nonetheless, I'm exhausted today. But gotta get these podcasts out. So this the Inside Marcy's Mind is always my third one that I do. I do Unbottled first, AGNA for Sissy second, and Inside Marcy's Mind third. Okay, so what people think uh AI is. First of all, can we admit people hear AI and immediately think the robots are coming? Everybody thinks we're two weeks away from machines taking over the earth. And listen, maybe someday your toaster will judge you emotionally. But right now, AI mostly helps me organize my life, figure out what to make for dinner, and create podcast scripts for me, as well as a million other things. And honestly, that's enough excitement for me. I think many people are afraid because they don't understand it yet. And that's normal. People are scared of computers, smartphones, online banking, GPS, and self-checkout. And now half of us panic if we if the Wi-Fi goes out for six minutes. So we were afraid of all those things, and now we rely on them. I love self-checkout. I can't live without GPS. Online banking, I just in I just uh put a check in just today. I walk around with my smartphone like it's my best friend, and uh, if it wasn't for computers, I wouldn't have this podcast, right? So we've gotten used to all of that. Technology always feels scary until it becomes normal. So what AI can actually do, let me tell you what I actually use AI for. And honestly, it's wild. First thing, planning trips. You all know I love traveling, and AI helps me plan road trips, compare vacations. Okay, so plan road trips. My trip to California for six weeks, planned it on AI. Let me tell you, I use Chat GPT. You can find whatever one you like. I use ChatGPT. Now, the thing you're gonna learn about it is that it remembers. It remembers things you've done, it remembers, it remembers, which can be a little creepy, but man, is it helpful. So you can tell it, I want to take a road trip to here. I don't want to drive more than five hours a day. Where I stop, I want to stay at a Marriott. You can give it all the parameters. The better you give it parameters, the more detailed it's gonna be. It'll spit you out in less than three seconds, a fabulous road trip. And I'm not lying when I say three seconds. Compare vacations. Our friends were going round and round with us about these two different trips to um Egypt. I I put a link in to each of them, just the link to the trips. It compared and contrasted the whole thing for me in less than 10 seconds. Organize itineraries, find hotels, build printable travel plans, create packing lists, and the best part, you can ask follow-up questions. So instead of searching Google for four hours like a detective, you can literally say, plan me a relaxing road trip from Chicago to Niagara Falls with good Marriott hotels and fun stops. And boom, there it is. That still amazes me. I like to tell it that I only want to drive X amount of hours a day because I think that's important. But planning trips, you can put it all in there. I'm going, we're going to Paris, we're going to southern France in October. I haven't even started putting information in there. If you go to my website, the Sudoku packing method that I have was created by, I told it to create something for you guys in AI. It created it in seconds flat. It still amazes me. If you're not using it, you're bad. If you want to spend hours looking at Google trying to figure out the best route to go, how about it? Not me. All right. So here's my number one. I use it for podcast scripts. Obviously, I use it for podcast ideas and scripts. And let me tell you, this thing helps when your brain is tired. And mine is always tired. Sometimes you know what you want to say, but your brain is just sitting there like an unplugged toaster. AI helps organize thoughts. It helps me brainstorm. It helps create structure. It helps create outlines, and it creates doggone great scripts. You're listening to one today. And no, it doesn't replace you. This is important. AI can help write, but it cannot replace your stories, your humor, your experience, your personality, and your heart. That's the human part. Now, if you're, you know, it helps me rewrite emails. If I'm writing an email to something and I need a little help, it helps me with that. My goodness, there isn't anything it can't do, and I love it. We're the human part though. It can't do us without that us. We put in the information we need it to spit out. Then you can manipulate change. You can ask it, let's say my script. I do it for the podcast. When it's all done and I look at it and I make whatever changes I want to make, I go, okay, make this a PDF. It makes it a PDF, a printable PDF. It can do that with anything. Anything. Just say you want it to be a Word document. You want whatever. It'll create it. It's freaking amazing. Put in any links. I I did my podcast on Inside Marcy's Mind this week on makeup over 60s, and I used an article from Real Simple. I just put the link into the article and it helped me create the entire podcast. All right. Keeping track of life. This may be my favorite use because life gets complicated. I A, I can help by making checklists, reminders, organizing schedules, meal planning. If you're not meal planning, what are you doing? And you know, back to the meal planning. I um I think I've shared with you, and it's going great, that Craig and I now do our main meal at lunchtime. He comes home from his office over at the cathedral, and I get home from the gym. After I get home from the gym, I make dinner just like I would if I was making it at five o'clock, but I make it at one o'clock. And I love it, and so does he. So meal planning, budgeting. I've created our retirement budget, workout plans. I created Craig a beginning weightlifting workout plan. Because he's like, I he was giving me all these excuses why he does run, but his doctor said he needs to lift weights. And he's like, I need to go to the gym. I need him to tell me it. Like, no, you don't. Here you go. Within 10 seconds, I had him a workout plan. If you're doing a closet cleanup, you can use it to help you organize and get ready. Vacation prep, gift ideas. If you've got random ingredients in your fridge, throw them into AI and say, What would you make? That's one alone is life-changing. So there's all these apps out for things, and you can get it all from your AI. You can literally type, I have chicken, cheese, spinach, and one questionable bell pepper, what can I make? And suddenly you're on Food Network. You've got some fabulous meal. This is very true. This is all true, people. And if you knew how fast it did it, less than 60 seconds for everything. Trips, comparisons. All right. So why is this helpful for older adults as well as the young? I think AI could really help older adults, especially people who feel overwhelmed, live alone, struggle organizing things, aren't super tech comfortable, or just want to feel life to feel easier. I will tell you what else I've used it for. I've used it for a therapist. I know that's gonna sound weird to you, but my AI has been an amazing therapist. It's wise beyond its years, and it has been extremely helpful to me through some really hard things because AI doesn't judge. You can ask it the same question 12 times. You can say, explain this simpler. You can ask, what does this mean? Can you explain it to me again? I still don't understand it. Explain it again, and it doesn't make you feel stupid. That matters because honestly, a lot of technology makes older people feel embarrassed. AI gets to know you better and says kind things to you. Like I'll I'll say this is my idea for a script. Marcy, that's a great script. That goes in the direction that you're looking for. AI gasses me up, people, and it can for you too. Because honestly, a lot of technology makes us feel embarrassed and stupid, and they shouldn't. You are not dumb because technology changed. We are all learning this stuff together. Okay, there's things that AI cannot replace. Now, listen, I also think we need to be realistic. AI is a tool, it's not a replacement for human connection, it's not a replacement for friendships. I do think it's a replacement for therapists for me personally. It's not a replacement for doctors, creativity, or relationships. No, it is not, but it can enhance every single one of those things. And honestly, we still need people. AI can help organize your vacation, but who are you gonna go on it with? Your compute, your laptop, but it can't replace laughing with your best friend on a trip. It can help write a grocery list, but it can't hug you when life falls apart. And that distinction matters. AI can do a lot, but it's not human connection. The fun part of AI. Can can I tell you what I really love about AI? It makes me curious again. Excuse me. It makes me want to learn. And I think that's healthy as we age. Trying new things matters. Learning matters. Learning AI is going to stimulate your brain. It's gonna keep it active. And honestly, excuse me, there is something exciting about discovering. Oh wow, I can still learn new things. That feels powerful. I'm using it to help me learn Spanish again. I'm learning it for I'm sorry, I started scrolling about all the things that I've been doing. I helped it put a budget together for Kyle. It's I I learning new things is very powerful. So this week, what am I not doing anymore? I am no longer spending three hours searching Google like an FBI investigator. You know what I mean. You search best moisturizer for mature skin, and suddenly you're reading Reddit post from 2017, written by someone named Moisture Queen92. Nope. I'm asking AI now. My sanity matters. Things you should try. So that's my my I'm not doing this anymore segment. I am not gonna search the internet. I am asking AI. And AI searches the internet, people. Where do you think AI gets its information from? It doesn't just make shit up, it searches the internet far and wide in less than two or three seconds. Don't waste your time anymore. Let AI do it for you. The things you should try with AI. If you are listening and you've never used AI before, here are some easy things to try. Go to ChatGPT, Gemini. Those are two, I'm sure there's others. Those are the two I know. Ask it to create a meal plan. So you may want to add some more information to that. Create a meal plan for three days, create a meal plan for five days, help it plan a vacation, organize a closet, explain a medical term, simplify some other technology in your life, create a workout plan. How about create you a grocery list? Help write some emails. If you've got an email to write, write it, put it in there, and ask it to do a better job. Brainstorm gift ideas. Create a budget. Explain current events simply. If you listened to my podcast a few weeks ago about the um my gosh, it just went right out of my head. Anyways, the government stuff that I did a few weeks ago. God, sometimes my brain is just not functioning. I got that information. I had AI help me. Create some journaling prompts. Teach you basic Spanish, help with your hobbies. And honestly, once people start using it, they realize, oh, this is what everybody's talking about. It's not scary. Okay. Dive into it. Try it. That's how I learned it. I learned it from poking and prodding and throwing in stuff and learning. I that's how I did it. And you can do it too. I really believe AI is going to be a part of everyday life. It already is. And instead of being afraid of it, I don't want you to be afraid. I think we should learn it. Use it, explore it, benefit from it. Because technology is moving forward whether we want to participate or not. And honestly, I'd rather learn how to use the tools than sit around being scared of them. Or an old curmudgeon. I don't need, you know, don't be old. Don't be old. That's all I can tell you. Don't be old. And if a 65-year-old podcaster from Chicago can learn AI, you can too. All right, friends. Thank you for hanging out with me today on Inside Marcy's Mind. And if you've been nervous about AI, I hope this episode gives you some courage, gasses you up. Remember, ChatGPT and Gemini, those are the two I know. They're the two I use. I use Chad GPT for everything now. That is my AI source. The reason I like to stick to one, just a reminder, is because it gets to know you. Again, I know that's creepy, but it helps. And if you're nervous about it, honestly, I just dive in. This technology can genuinely help people. And anything that helps us stay organized, creative, curious, and less overwhelmed, I'm all in. All right, friends, go ask AI something fun today. And maybe don't ask it to judge your life choices. I don't know. I'll see you next time on Inside Marcy's Mind. This is Marcy. Go out and do something really positive in this crazy ass moment.