📜 One Year of AI, Software, and Wetware: What's Changed?
Fresh written interview with my very first AISW guest, Kathy Gerstorff, on what has changed in AI in the 12 months since her interview
A Year?!
Since this AI6P interview series on “AI, Software, and Wetware” was announced in July 2024 and launched on August 1, I’ve interviewed over 70 guests from 21 countries (4 continents). In that time, we’ve all seen the world of AI continue to evolve rapidly. So I thought it might be interesting to re-interview my first guest,
, about what has changed in AI over the past 12 months, from her perspective. (This is a written interview; read-aloud is available in Substack.)
Hi Kathy - it’s wonderful to have you back on “AI, Software, and Wetware”. It was such a pleasure to kick off this interview series with you as my first guest one year ago. And I’m so curious to hear about how your experiences with AI have evolved over the past year.
Thank you, Karen. I have enjoyed following your journey and interviews with various AI users and technophiles. It was an honor to be the first person you interviewed and I’m happy to return. A lot has happened with AI in a year. I can’t imagine where we will be with AI in five years!
Right?! If we look back 5 years, it would have been very hard to predict where we are now!
For those in our audience who didn’t meet you last year, please introduce yourself - tell us who you are and what you do now!
I officially retired in April of this year, so I have a lot more time to pursue my passion of poetry and writing. I’m working on my first historical fiction novel and a Guerrilla Marketing book to take advantage of my 20+ years as an author and entrepreneur. I still publish the Indie Author Insights Newsletter and have added a section to talk about AI called Scribe Bytes.
Congratulations on your retirement! What would you say are the biggest positive change, and the biggest negative change, you’ve seen in the world of AI in the past year?
The biggest positive change I’ve seen is the rapid improvement of artificial intelligence. The biggest negative change I see is the resistance which I feel is futile. A few weeks ago, I was listening to an AI prompt engineer and eight-figure entrepreneur talk about AI. They said to embrace AI or get run over by it. That stuck with me. I prefer to embrace it as I have all technology. I still find it so fascinating coming from an analog world.
I’m not so sure it’s as black-and-white and dramatic as that. Whenever I hear those kinds of comments, especially from the 8-figure people, I always want to look at where the money is and how it benefits those people to advocate for those positions 🙂
How have these improvements in AI affected you and your clients?
AI has helped me create covers, flyers, memes, audio, merchandise, and more to help technophobic authors and entrepreneurs. I have also had people unsubscribe to my newsletter and emails when I talk about using AI. To me it’s just a tool. One that often enhances my creativity.
I remember from your initial interview that you were already using AI for lots of purposes in your business. You’re pretty up front about what you think about AI, although I’m not sure if you’ve posted a written AI policy for new subscribers?
I’m not sure what you mean about a written AI policy?
By “AI Policy”, I mean something like this article that I posted in April 2024, about what AI tools I use & don’t use and why. I see a lot more people posting AI policies now, so that people know what to expect, and they can see up front if their values are aligned.
So I’m curious about the unsubscribes. Do the unsubscribers actually say that it’s *because* of your writing about AI in the Scribe Bytes section?
Yes, a couple people told me they are not interested in anything to do with AI.
Interesting. I have to wonder if some people subscribe to you *because* of those AI tips, though!
As of July 2025, when we’re doing this interview, what is the single most valuable thing AI does for your business?
It’s hard to pick a single thing. I’ve used AI to come up with a business name, book covers, story ideas, poetry prompts, blog topics, marketing strategies, and more.
Those sound like useful applications, and I think it’s worth noting that none of those involve you having an AI tool write your book texts for you, which I think is what concerns a lot of people about using AI.
I recall that you had used an AI voice cloning tool last year. Do you still use it?
I haven’t used it in several months. I couldn’t justify the expense and some authors didn’t like using it. Also, it became more cumbersome and time consuming to create the audio as “improvements” were made to the program. I’m considering checking it out again as I’ve discovered other platforms that offer the service.
How about for you personally, how are you using AI now?
Personally, I use ChatGPT to help me pinpoint health concerns. For example: my blood test showed elevated eosinophils. I didn’t even know what that was. It’s white blood cells. I asked AI, “What’s the most likely cause of high eosinophils in someone with type 2 diabetes, lymphedema, and heart failure” which are all health issues I’m battling. It listed five possible causes that I would have never thought of including an allergic reaction to medication or parasites. It then asked if I would like a checklist to bring to my doctor appointment!
Wow, that sounds useful, and I hope the checklist helps you have a good discussion with your doctor!
As of July 2025, what is the one thing AI doesn’t yet do for you that you wish it did?
Well, it doesn’t always give me the answer I want. I recently asked which authors have the best A+ Content on Amazon. It gave me a couple good ones and an author that isn’t even on Amazon. So, I don’t always trust AI and have to double check its response.
I’m curious if you have tried Perplexity or Claude - with their recent updates, they’re supposed to provide better source references for their answers?
I did when it first came out, but not since their updates. I recently discovered an AI aggregator called Magai that offers the best AI program based on your prompt and its vast user experience database. It’s next on my list to check out. Maybe you could interview the owner?!
Good suggestion, thanks! I’ll look at the tool and I’ll be curious to hear about your experiences with it.
In hindsight, what’s the one piece of advice about AI that you wish someone had given you a year ago?
Maybe a list of which AI programs to best use for a specific purpose, and what AI companies to invest in! ;)
Ha! Yes 🙂 What advice would you like to give to writers or entrepreneurs who may be struggling with using AI?
Play around with AI and see what works for you. A lot of the platforms offer free versions. AI is not going away. In fact, it’s improving exponentially every day. AI is a tool and can be used as little or as much as you want. Authors and other entrepreneurs can save time and money using AI. Many are making money with AI. For those who can afford to hire out the various tasks it takes to publish, market, and sell a book, that’s great. And creatives who want to stay behind for art’s sake, go for it. But, if you want to compete with the ever-growing and competitive marketplace, I highly recommend you get curious about AI, ASAP!
Kathy, thank you so much (again) for your time and for sharing your experiences with us!
Thank YOU, Karen. I appreciate the opportunity to chat with you and your audience.
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“AI, Software, and Wetware” showcases how real people around the world are using their wetware (brains and human intelligence) with AI-based software tools, or are being affected by AI. And we’re all being affected by AI nowadays in our daily lives, perhaps more than we realize. For some examples, see post “But I Don’t Use AI”.
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Article References and Links
Kathy Gerstorff on Substack
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