Intelligent Tools

September 7, 2026

A few days ago while working on a short story, I decided to use the name of an actual town in Oregon, one that would be near the fictional town I was using. My first inclination was to pull up an Oregon road map on my computer and see if I could identify a small rural town that was located roughly forty-five miles from Portland. Then another idea came to mind.

I dialed up the AI monster and laid out what I was looking for. I got my answer in less than five seconds. I was presented with a list of 14 actual Oregon towns that fit my descriptive requirements. Each town’s population and its distance and direction from Portland were included. Using AI allowed me to gather information that would have otherwise taken at least 30 minutes to an hour to gather. I saved time and was able to move on to the part I love best: writing fiction.

The use of AI as a tool provides efficiency, accuracy (mostly), and the freedom to go on to other tasks. And it saves the money that would be required to hire an assistant. AI as a tool makes sense and is already being used regularly by millions of people. But what about its misuse? When is its use crossing the line?

Those questions deserve a discussion all their own.