What If Using AI Was Mandatory at Work?
What if using AI wasn’t optional at work, but expected? Where would you even start?
On a recent episode of the AI & I podcast, host Dan Shipper interviewed the CEO of a sizable hedge fund who just told his staff exactly that. The CEO is Will England, who runs Walleye Capital. I don’t know much about hedge funds, but I do know a bold move when I see one. This is from the email he wrote to his employees:
“If you write research, analyze, build decks, process data, or think for a living, you should be using ChatGPT and/or other AI tools every single day.”
England was hooked after one of his analysts showed him how he was using AI to analyze and pick stocks. That was back in March 2023. He saw the same thing most of us did: AI was going to change everything. But how?
So, he stayed curious. He stayed in the game. Until the tools got too good to ignore. We’re there now. This is it.
Just last week, Slack published a survey of over 10,000 workers. The results?
45% said their company has no clear AI guidelines.
85% said they don’t know how to integrate AI into their workflow.
That’s a problem. And when some companies are still banning tools like ChatGPT outright, it sets the stage for a business landscape divided: the haves and the have-nots of AI.
I get why companies hit the brakes. Security risks. Misinformation. Wrong answers packaged in confident-sounding text. But here’s the real question: Is it harder to figure out how to use AI, or harder to catch up after your competitors already did?
Meanwhile, tools like ChatGPT and Claude continue to improve. Hallucinations are dropping. And we’ve entered the no-code era, where regular people can build apps without writing a single line of code. Those tools are getting faster, easier, and smarter by the day.
And yet, I still hear people argue that using AI is “cheating.” Cheating at what?
This isn’t a final exam. It’s work. Using AI to brainstorm ideas so you can shape the content in your own voice and style is like discovering a lever that moves twice the weight with half the effort. Why wouldn’t you use it?
Here’s what I mean.
I picked a random city (Denver) and asked ChatGPT to write a song intro for a Jason Aldean’s Whiskey Drink. I told it to make an emotional connection between the lyrics and a trending story in that city. It chose a story about the recent increase in parking fees at Denver International Airport:
“Jason Aldean’s out here cryin’ in his whiskey over a woman. Meanwhile, I’m crying in my reusable Starbucks cup over DIA’s parking fees. At this point, it’s cheaper to Uber.”
OK. Not bad. I asked for something funnier and a little edgier.
“Jason Aldean’s beggin’ whiskey to kick in. I did the same after seein’ my DIA parking charge. That thing hit harder than a shot of Wild Turkey at your cousin’s second wedding.”
Now imagine transcribing a few pages of your own breaks, then training ChatGPT to write in your voice. Think about how valuable that would be when voice-tracking in other markets. This is just scratching the surface of what AI can do for radio.
And the kicker? After giving me that second version, ChatGPT added, “Want a few family-friendly versions? Or edgy late-night takes? I can also spin these into short promos or reusable liners.” My creative brain lit up with more ways to use it.
The good news is that AI gives you infinite intelligence that fuels your brand of infinite creativity. The bad news is that everyone else has it too. You don’t need to master the technology, you just need to flip the switch from “I don’t get it” to “Let’s see what this can do.” Curiosity beats perfection.
I’ll leave you with one more quote from Will England, “If we get disrupted by AI, that’s on me.” For Country Radio DJs and PDs working in a job where your creativity defines your personal brand, you are the CEO of your future.
It’s on you.
