Yesterday, someone was struggling to understand the licensing system for fonts on Envato's website.
For a non-English speaker, myself included, it's quite difficult to be sure of what you're reading in a complex legal text. Even more so when your specific use case isn't clearly identified in the document. Another time, I'll explain what to watch out for when using AI with legal texts
Given the above, my recommendation was to email the support team and ask about their specific use case. The person's world seemed to collapse—not because they couldn't write the email, as they are fluent in both writing and speaking English, despite it not being their native language. However, the task of conveying all the details of their use case in that language was undoubtedly going to be titanic, as it was already challenging enough to express in Spanish.
Using AI to Solve Communication Barriers
And this is where I used AI to solve the problem. I wrote 2 or 3 lines summarizing the key concerns about the license in my native language, and then I asked ChatGPT, also in my native language, to draft a formal email in English asking the support team whether those specific points were permitted under the license.
To my colleague's surprise, it generated a perfect and polite email, explaining exactly what needed to be explained and asking precisely what needed to be asked.
At this point, saying that generative AIs are useful for writing emails seems obvious, but it’s not. This person knew that AI could do this, but let’s just say they weren’t very fond of this technology.
They are very protective of their writing and style, believing that AI will impersonate them—that if it's not them writing in their own way, it's not really them, and they lose their essence.
Overcoming Fear of AI and Self-Imposed Limitations
Well, I understand their concern, especially when you have a very specific style and way of expressing yourself, and you want to write with your own hand, not to mention the benefits of writing and self-reflection.
But not all of your writing is equally distinctive, and you don’t have a unique style across all languages. So, this belief that AI "sucks your soul" ends up being a self-imposed limitation.
This unconscious self-imposed limitation makes this person avoid these types of tools as a rule, meaning they don’t gain experience using them, and as a result, these tools don't come to mind when they're facing problems that could be solved with them.
We are limited by our knowledge and beliefs. Never stop learning, and never underestimate something until you've explored it and gotten your hands dirty using it.
That’s the only way to push beyond our limitations.
What about you? Is there something you're afraid to learn?