AI for Creative Professionals: AI Tools & Prompts for Designers, Writers & Marketers

You've probably done this: asked ChatGPT to "teach me photography" and gotten one giant answer you copied into a Notion doc and never opened again. I did the opposite. I built myself a real six-week audio engineering course, specifically to close a gap I already knew I had, not to relearn the basics.
I made AI interview me before it wrote a single lesson, forced it toward one specific finish line instead of some vague "I want to understand this," and kept sending it back to cut what I already knew. Then the part most people skip - assignments instead of just reading answers, a pass test every week that blocks me from moving to the next one, a small HTML dashboard so it didn't die in a buried chat thread, and one last step that had nothing to do with AI and decided whether any of this got used.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – Why "teach me X" prompts don't work
01:03 – My own six-week audio course
02:00 – Find the gap next to what you already do
03:29 – Make AI interview you first
04:59 – Get specific about the finish line
06:50 – Assignments, not answers
08:32 – The pass test
09:16 – Turning it into an HTML dashboard
11:09 – Put it on the calendar or it never happens
LET'S CONNECT! If this helped, subscribe to AI for Creative Professionals on Apple or Spotify for more practical AI tools for creatives — freelance and in-house designers, writers, marketers, photographers, video editors, podcasters and other creative professionals figuring out how to work with AI without losing what makes their work theirs. I cover AI tools for creatives, AI workflows, prompt engineering, creative automation, AI-assisted content creation and the latest AI industry trends, with tools I tested in real creative workflows rather than just repeated from a launch announcement. I also talk about the other side of working with AI: creative careers, AI job anxiety, AI burnout, creative identity, maintaining your voice and taste, client expectations, boundaries, and what we might be better off keeping human. I'm also on Substack at @aiforcreativeprofessionals if you want to connect directly, it's where I will post the more personal, behind-the-scenes stuff that doesn't fit into an episode. New episodes every Wednesday. Full show notes and transcripts at aiforcreativepros.com

Your portfolio shows what you made. But does it show how you think?
In this episode, I make the case for an “audio CV” — a small, 8-episode podcast designed to help designers, writers, editors, photographers, and other creative professionals stand out to employers and potential clients.
We get into what those episodes should actually be about, examples for different creative professions, why you don't need a big audience for this to work, and how to use individual episodes in job applications and client pitches.
Want to build your own Audio CV?I'm exploring a strategy session where we'll design your concept, name, 8–12 episode ideas, and how you'll use the series professionally.
👉 Tell me about your Audio CV here
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Why your portfolio might not be enough anymore04:58 What creative portfolios can't show08:27 The “audio CV” idea11:17 What should you actually talk about?17:20 How to use your podcast to get hired or win clients19:57 How to create your own 8-episode Audio CV23:58 Want help building yours?
LET'S CONNECT! If this helped, subscribe to AI for Creative Professionals on Apple or Spotify for more practical AI tools for creatives — freelance and in-house designers, writers, marketers, photographers, video editors, podcasters and other creative professionals figuring out how to work with AI without losing what makes their work theirs. I cover AI tools for creatives, AI workflows, prompt engineering, creative automation, AI-assisted content creation and the latest AI industry trends, with tools I tested in real creative workflows rather than just repeated from a launch announcement. I also talk about the other side of working with AI: creative careers, AI job anxiety, AI burnout, creative identity, maintaining your voice and taste, client expectations, boundaries, and what we might be better off keeping human. I'm also on Substack at @aiforcreativeprofessionals if you want to connect directly, it's where I will post the more personal, behind-the-scenes stuff that doesn't fit into an episode. New episodes every Wednesday. Full show notes and transcripts at aiforcreativepros.com

Would you email an unreleased client interview to some random company you've never worked with? Probably not. But most of us do the AI version of that without a second thought. This episode is about what actually happens to client information the moment it goes into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, and the four questions worth asking before anything gets uploaded again. 
By the end you'll have an exact list of things to check this week, plus the wording I'm actually sending my own clients before I put their material anywhere near AI.
RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
→ OpenAI — how to turn off model training in ChatGPT  → Anthropic — whether Claude uses your data for training
→ Google — Gemini Apps Privacy Hub→ American Bar Association — Formal Opinion 512 on lawyers and generative AI
→ TechCrunch — Samsung bans generative AI tools after 2023 internal data leak
CHAPTERS
00:00 – The interview you'd never email to a stranger01:54 – The four questions to ask before uploading anything03:19 – Your paid ChatGPT or Claude account is probably still "personal"06:26 – Training vs. retention (and ChatGPT's hidden Library problem)07:37 – The thumbs-down button that can lock in five years of storage09:15 – NDAs vs. DPAs, and what the ABA tells lawyers10:43 – My green, yellow, red system for client work12:46 – Exactly what to do this week14:31 – Wrap-up + a tease for next week
CLIENT PERMISSION EMAIL (mentioned at 13:30 — paste as-is or adapt per client)
Quick check before I bring AI into this part of the project — I'd like to use [tool + plan] to [transcribe / summarize / organize] [the specific material]. Under this plan's current terms, [one line on training/retention for that specific product]. I'll only give it what's needed for the task and will delete the material afterward, per their retention policy. Let me know if that's fine under your confidentiality requirements, or if you'd rather I keep this out of AI tools entirely.
LET'S CONNECT! If this helped, subscribe to AI for Creative Professionals on Apple or Spotify for more practical AI tools for creatives — freelance and in-house designers, writers, marketers, photographers, video editors, podcasters and other creative professionals figuring out how to work with AI without losing what makes their work theirs. I cover AI tools for creatives, AI workflows, prompt engineering, creative automation, AI-assisted content creation and the latest AI industry trends, with tools I tested in real creative workflows rather than just repeated from a launch announcement. I also talk about the other side of working with AI: creative careers, AI job anxiety, AI burnout, creative identity, maintaining your voice and taste, client expectations, boundaries, and what we might be better off keeping human. I'm also on Substack at @aiforcreativeprofessionals if you want to connect directly, it's where I will post the more personal, behind-the-scenes stuff that doesn't fit into an episode. New episodes every Wednesday. Full show notes and transcripts at aiforcreativepros.com

How much AI should actually be part of a creative professional's work?
In Part 2 of my This or That episode, I'm answering the AI questions I didn't get to last time, from ChatGPT vs. Claude and AI-generated imagery vs. stock photography to automation, traditional creative skills, AI overwhelm, and whether I'd actually want AI to become more capable than it already is. Listen to Pt. 1 episode HERE.
But by the end, this episode turns into something bigger: what I actually want AI for Creative Professionals to be about.
I'm not anti-AI, but I'm also not someone who wants AI to become my entire creative identity. I'm figuring out how to adapt alongside everyone else, learning what makes our work better, what is mostly noise, and what parts of our craft are worth protecting.
If you're a designer, writer, marketer, editor, photographer, videographer, freelancer, or another creative professional who knows you can't completely ignore AI but doesn't want to become an “AI person,” this show is for you.
In this episode:
ChatGPT vs. Claude
AI for ideas vs. execution
AI imagery vs. stock photography
Why I deliberately ignore most new AI tools
The creative skills I think become more valuable as AI improves
What AI has made better and worse about my work
What would happen to my workflow if AI disappeared tomorrow
Why I'm increasingly skeptical of AI-everything
Where I think creative professionals fit into an AI-driven future
Who I actually want this podcast to be for
Next week: AI and client confidentiality, what creative professionals should think about before uploading client briefs, transcripts, strategies, files, and other confidential information into AI tools.
LET'S CONNECT! If this helped, subscribe to AI for Creative Professionals on Apple or Spotify for more practical AI tools for creatives — freelance and in-house designers, writers, marketers, photographers, video editors, podcasters and other creative professionals figuring out how to work with AI without losing what makes their work theirs. I cover AI tools for creatives, AI workflows, prompt engineering, creative automation, AI-assisted content creation and the latest AI industry trends, with tools I tested in real creative workflows rather than just repeated from a launch announcement. I also talk about the other side of working with AI: creative careers, AI job anxiety, AI burnout, creative identity, maintaining your voice and taste, client expectations, boundaries, and what we might be better off keeping human. I'm also on Substack at @aiforcreativeprofessionals if you want to connect directly, it's where I will post the more personal, behind-the-scenes stuff that doesn't fit into an episode. New episodes every Wednesday. Full show notes and transcripts at aiforcreativepros.com

Which creative skills actually still sell now that everyone has access to AI? That's what I went looking for real data on this time. I dug up job posting numbers and freelance rate reports, and I also went back through my own 2018 portfolio, which is mostly dropshipping ad cuts made in Premiere and Filmora and Canva templates with a different product photo dropped in. It's cringe. it's not bad work, but it looks exactly like everyone else's portfolio from that era.
Inside the episode: an analysis of roughly 180 million job postings showing computer graphics and 3D roles down 33% while creative director postings stayed basically flat — same industry, completely different graph. Why London illustration agencies are signing woodblock printmakers and linocut artists right now. What happened when businesses fired their copywriters for ChatGPT in 2024 and quietly hired them back in 2025 at higher rates. And the same execution-versus-judgment split showing up, discipline by discipline, across design, writing, video, and marketing.
Then I walk through the actual audit I ran on my own portfolio this week, sorting a year of client work into two piles, and being honest about which pile most of it landed in.
RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
→ Central Illustration Agency — London illustration agency now representing traditional, hands-on craft (woodblock printmaking) alongside its usual roster → IllustrationX — international illustration and animation agency, mentioned alongside CIA for signing a linocut artist
→ Bloomberry (Henley Wing Chiu) — "I analyzed 180M jobs to see what jobs AI is actually replacing today," the source behind the job-posting split→ Upwork In-Demand Skills 2026 — source of the Brand Strategy (+26%) demand figure → Upwork Future Workforce Index 2026 — source of the "34% more per hour" AI-freelancer earnings figure
→ Rob Palmer — direct-response copywriter referenced for the "fired for AI in 2024, rehired at higher rates in 2025" story 
CHAPTERS
00:00 The cringey 2018 dropshipping ad and Canva portfolio04:08 Intro: what this episode is about06:07 The split: 180 million job postings, two different graphs08:21 Why London illustration agencies are signing woodblock printmakers09:42 The four-discipline breakdown: design, writing, video, marketing11:05 The complication: the broken ladder for junior creatives13:01 Is "taste" really a permanent moat?13:46 The copywriter who got fired for AI, then rehired at higher rates14:56 The portfolio audit: sorting a year of work into two piles17:07 Homework for you
LET'S CONNECT! If this helped, subscribe to AI for Creative Professionals on Apple or Spotify for more practical AI tools for creatives — freelance and in-house designers, writers, marketers, photographers, video editors, podcasters and other creative professionals figuring out how to work with AI without losing what makes their work theirs. I cover AI tools for creatives, AI workflows, prompt engineering, creative automation, AI-assisted content creation and the latest AI industry trends, with tools I tested in real creative workflows rather than just repeated from a launch announcement. I also talk about the other side of working with AI: creative careers, AI job anxiety, AI burnout, creative identity, maintaining your voice and taste, client expectations, boundaries, and what we might be better off keeping human. I'm also on Substack at @aiforcreativeprofessionals if you want to connect directly, it's where I will post the more personal, behind-the-scenes stuff that doesn't fit into an episode. New episodes every Wednesday. Full show notes and transcripts at aiforcreativepros.com

AI search is changing how clients find creative professionals, freelancers, designers, writers, podcast producers, photographers, and other independent creatives online. In this episode, I’m looking at how ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and other AI search tools are changing online discovery, what Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) actually means, and what you can do to improve your chances of appearing when a potential client asks AI to recommend someone with your skills. I also dig into why traditional SEO still matters, how AI decides who and what to cite, and why consistent positioning across the web is becoming increasingly important.
I went pretty deep into the research for this one because there are a lot of sweeping claims about AI replacing Google, and the actual picture is more complicated. Google still dominates search, while AI referral traffic is relatively small, but it’s growing very quickly. I also found some interesting evidence that people arriving through AI recommendations may be much more qualified than traditional search visitors. And one of the biggest surprises for me was LinkedIn: individual creators and their content are showing up in AI-generated answers far more often than I expected.
Then I get into what you can actually do about it. I explain why specific positioning tends to work better than vague marketing language, why you should describe what you do consistently across your website, LinkedIn, podcast bio, directories, and other profiles, and why third-party mentions are becoming so valuable. If you publish podcasts or videos, I also explain why transcripts matter for AI discovery. And I’ll give you a simple experiment you can run today: ask ChatGPT or Perplexity the exact question your ideal client would ask when looking for someone like you and see whether you exist in the answer at all.
RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED
→ Semrush research on AI referral traffic and AI citations
→ Pew Research on Google AI Overviews and search behavior
→ BrightLocal research on AI-assisted local business discovery
→ Seer Interactive research on AI-referred traffic and conversions
→ Ahrefs research on brand mentions and AI visibility
→ KDD 2024 research on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Can AI find you?02:56 Google still dominates, but AI search is growing03:59 How quickly ChatGPT referral traffic is increasing05:26 How AI Overviews are changing clicks07:06 Creative professionals already getting clients through ChatGPT08:45 Behance, Dribbble, LinkedIn & Upwork09:47 Why LinkedIn matters for AI discovery11:10 Why AI-referred visitors may convert better12:52 What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?14:41 How AI builds a picture of who you are15:45 Reddit, LinkedIn & AI citations17:23 The importance of third-party mentions18:16 Audit your AI visibility18:37 Write a specific positioning sentence19:28 Make your audio and video content readable by AI19:54 Build third-party mentions20:44 What all of this means for creative professionals
LET'S CONNECT! If this helped, subscribe to AI for Creative Professionals on Apple or Spotify for more practical AI tools for creatives — freelance and in-house designers, writers, marketers, photographers, video editors, podcasters and other creative professionals figuring out how to work with AI without losing what makes their work theirs. I cover AI tools for creatives, AI workflows, prompt engineering, creative automation, AI-assisted content creation and the latest AI industry trends, with tools I tested in real creative workflows rather than just repeated from a launch announcement. I also talk about the other side of working with AI: creative careers, AI job anxiety, AI burnout, creative identity, maintaining your voice and taste, client expectations, boundaries, and what we might be better off keeping human. I'm also on Substack at @aiforcreativeprofessionals if you want to connect directly, it's where I will post the more personal, behind-the-scenes stuff that doesn't fit into an episode. New episodes every Wednesday. Full show notes and transcripts at aiforcreativepros.com