Don't Panic: AI Will Not Leave You Behind
- Andrew Mitchell
- Nov 21
- 6 min read
How ignoring the noise, adopting a Curious Approach and putting in the work will win in the long run.
This year I've committed to learning as much as possible about AI, it's capabilities and applications for an interior design business like mine (and yours).
From a monthly "AI Chat Group" with Fiona Killackey, and hosting an "AI for Designers" workshop for my Group Coaching members with Hoda Afra, a "Build SOP's with AI" Workshop with Systemology's David Jenyns, and this week "AI for SEO" with Kate Toon, I've been doing my best to stay abreast with the latest in everything AI.
All of these hosts have been amazing, and share one thing in common - a desire to learn and a willingness to share what they learn.
There are plenty of things I love about AI, but there are plenty of elements that are frustrating, morally concerning and outright annoying.
What most irritates me most is the noise from the barrage of self-professed "experts" (inside and outside the design industry), mainly on social media, who are fear mongering and threatening that you'll be left behind if you don't sign up to their course/download their app/adopt their 5 step system for $$$.
I'm calling massive #BS on all these people!
As Kate Toon mentioned in her amazing, action packed workshop on AI for SEO this week:
"Nobody's an expert. AI is changing so fast, we're all still learning."
Rather than panicking, and signing up to every AI course and subscribing to every software program under the sun (OR moving in the opposite direction and ignoring it completely), I encourage you to adopt an approach of curiosity.
The fact of the matter is that AI is definitely here to stay, but it's not going to steal your job. When used well, it's going to make work better, faster and more enjoyable. It's going to take you away from some of the more mundane, repetitious parts of your work, and provide you with more time to do what you love.
NOW, don't expect any quick fixes, as promised by the aforementioned #BS Artists peddling their courses/tools/apps. You still need to do the work, and that involves:
Learning about the AI tool's capabilities, limitations and requirements.
Developing the necessary assets to educate the AI Tool so it can deliver accurate outputs, in your tone of voice.
Taking the time to input the right sort of information to provide the right prompts to get the results you're looking for, and avoiding unnecessary "hallucinations" (garbage in > garbage out).
Testing and refining as you go. This takes time and patience.
The biggest advantage with any tool, is that once you've mastered it, it enables you to scale (scale your output, scale your systems, scale your revenue). Another piece of gold from Kate Toon this week:
"AI is a tool. Tools need to be wielded by craftsmen."
That means we need to do our best to learn about the tools and how they should be used. The tricky part about that is that these tools are changing all the time. So (as I said before) there are no short cuts. Just a space for curiosity, practice and consistent learning.
Below I share my key learnings from the past 12 months about the capabilities and limitations of AI as it applies to owners of small businesses.
6 USES AND CAPABILITIES OF AI
1. Faster Expansion and Organisation of Ideas
Tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity can help you quickly expand on ideas, compare options, and synthesise information. Whether it’s fleshing out thoughts on a blog article, newsletter or business strategy, AI speeds up the groundwork while you retain creative control.
As an example, I created these lists (Uses and Limitations) and had ChatGPT expand on my notes, which I reviewed and refined for this article.
2. Deep, Targeted Research (Without the Sponsored Noise)
Unlike Google (which is increasingly clogged with ads) AI search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity can provide distilled, relevant information. You can get clarity on materials, building regulations, sustainability considerations, design precedents, or product comparisons far quicker than trawling through 15 open tabs.
3. Transcription and Documentation
Automated meeting transcription (Zoom AI, Otter, Notion, etc) means you can stay fully present with your clients and consultants while still capturing every detail. AI summarisation can turn these transcripts into usable notes, task lists and follow-up actions.
In my 1-on-1 Coaching Sessions, I use Zoom AI to summarise our sessions, providing my clients with clear notes about what was discussed, and suggested next steps. Not only does this save a huge amount of time, it's added a level of accuracy and detail that wasn't previously achievable.
4. First-Draft Communication Content Creation
AI can generate basic communication efficiently: client emails, procurement updates, scope outlines, job ads, social captions, fee proposal summaries, and more. Not to replace human nuance, but to speed up the drafting process so you can refine and approve instead of writing from scratch.
5. Systems & Time Management Support
From building systems, templates and SOP's, AI supports you in creating repeatable processes. It can also help you make sense of complex documents, summarise reports, organise tasks and set reminders, essential for small teams juggling multiple projects.
This year, my Group Coaching Program members have been experimenting with AI for the creation of systems for their design practices, speeding up the process and allowing them to focus on more strategic and creative tasks.
6. Image Generation
Rather than scrolling endlessly through Google for reference images, AI programs like Midjourney and ChatGPT now provide the opportunity to create highly customised concept images for our presentations.
Although in the early stages, AI can now create realistic avatars that can be used to further humanise (YES, humanise) our brands. The portrait of me above was created using an AI program specifically designed to analyse existing images and provide portraits in a variety of settings.
6 LIMITATIONS + WHAT TO AVOID
1. AI Can't Think Creatively for You
It can remix, synthesise, extrapolate. But genuine conceptualising, lateral thinking and deep problem-solving are entirely human domains.
2. AI Can't Replace What Makes YOU Unique
AI can't create authentic personal anecdotes, individual wisdom, past experiences, insights and the intuition you’ve built over years. All these come from lived experiences and are what make you unique, relatable and likeable.
3. Referencing and Facts Still Require Checking
AI can hallucinate citations, misattribute quotes and present guesses as facts. If accuracy matters (and in design and law it always does), you have to verify the sources.
4. It Won’t Do the Work for You
AI can map a plan. It can write your SOP. It can create the structure. You can even use AI to create a digital "assistant", but you still need to do the strategic thinking, make the choices, and execute the actual work.
5. It Can Atrophy Your Creativity
If you always ask AI for ideas before thinking for yourself, your creative muscles weaken. Over time, if relying on AI too heavily, we all risk losing the ability to think critically, conceptually and independently.
6. It Doesn't Replace Human Connection
No tool can build trust, convey empathy, read the room, manage relationships or offer the emotional reassurance that clients rely on throughout a project. That's always going to be our competitive advantage.
Nor can AI deliver the amazing feeling of being part of a community of like-minded people, of going on adventures and learning about the stories that connect us and make use so very human. That's why our Trips and Retreats are so popular!
WANT TO LEARN AI WITHOUT THE PANIC? JOIN ME IN 2026.
Next year I'm taking the learning up a level, and sharing that journey with my 2026 Group Coaching Program members.
Together we're going to harness the best AI tools, continuing to stay abreast of the latest updates, and ensuring we always maintain creative control. We'll develop detailed frameworks and guidelines that will allow us to effectively educate our various AI tools in our brand values, tone of voice and goals for the year.
We'll even develop our own customised GPT's that will serve as digital assistants, adding structure and accountability, and freeing up time to work more strategically on and in our businesses.
If you’re ready to approach AI thoughtfully, strategically and without the panic, I’d love to support you. Join me and our 2026 Group Coaching community as we build a smarter, more efficient and more creatively empowered way of working. Applications are now open.
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