How I’m Using AI

How I use “AI”

Like some, I cringe at the use of “AI” as a catch-all, but it’s two letters and super convenient. I don’t have a problem with the “A.” It’s the “I” that is problematic.

My Definition of AI

“AI”: Neural networks (Large Language Models) trained by various companies and people on large amounts of text and data to use language in order to perform tasks like reasoning, writing code, and generating content.

My personal rules for AI usage:

• Use it with intention.
• Be wary of its output.
• Always acknowledge when using it without modification.

I will not use generative AI to write text for my book, blog posts, or social media posts. If I do incorporate AI generated text verbatim, I will cite it clearly.

What I’m Using

As of March 5, 2026, I’m using

• Anthropic’s Claude (Opus and Sonnet 4.6)
• Google’s Gemini 3.1 Pro
• NotebookLM
• Ollama
• VSCode with the Claude extension

Claude is my primary model of choice because it’s just superior and I trust the way it’s trained. I also use NotebookLM but probably not as well as I could. I also have Ollama running for experimental purposes, sometimes I’ll try a local model like Qwen3-coder on Ollama to do some code generation, just to see how it compares to Claude (it’s slow on my machine, and not nearly as competent).

How I’m Using It

I have multiple instances of Claude Code (Opus 4.6) running in multiple directories:

• An Obsidian vault that I’ve set up specifically for this book project.
• Another directory and CC instance is focused on the creation and development of this blog, which is an Astro 5 + MDX static blog deployed on Vercel pulling notes from the Obsidian vault. I draft notes in Obsidian and those get published to the blog.
• I’m using Claude Code to build Virgil, a Swift iOS longform reading app which I intend to use to publish the epub version of the book
• I have a Claude Project set up with some foundational texts and assets, and Claude Cowork managing several agents that are monitoring the above project directories and updating a web-based dashboard so I can see progress and activities across all of the different fronts