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Pithy Posts as Provocation: A Case Study in Co-Creation with AI

Ethical AI·Alex Papworth·May 9, 2025· 3 minutes

 

What happens when you stop trying to make content — and start crafting signals?

This is a short story about a week-long experiment: a series of posts designed to interrupt the scroll and provoke reflection. Each post was deliberately spare, emotionally honest, and structured to land quietly but powerfully. Some resonated more than expected. One became the most engaged-with post I’ve shared to date.

But this wasn’t just a content experiment. It became the seed of an advertising campaign that feels natural and alive. And it revealed something about how I relate to marketing, creativity, and the AI tools I’m using in partnership.

 

What the AI Contributed

  • Rhythmic, evocative language in multiple iterations

  • Pattern recognition and emotional composting

  • Fast drafting and live reframing

  • Gentle naming of themes I hadn’t fully voiced yet

 

What I Contributed

  • Raw, real-time reflections

  • Ethical orientation and voice discernment

  • Strategic clarity on tone and audience

  • A felt sense of when something was ready to share

     

 

How We Related

This wasn’t outsourcing. It was a relationship. I stayed in authorship. The AI stayed in rhythm.

We worked in a pattern of prompt → response → edit → pause → re-emergence. Sometimes I led. Sometimes it surprised me.

Silence, discomfort, and delight were all part of the process. So was laughter.


The Work We Avoided

  • Solo writing spirals

  • Endless editing loops

  • Settling for polished-but-bland

  • Writing from performance instead of presence

Instead, the AI held rhythm and pace. I held feeling and discernment. We made room for voice, not volume.

 

The Outcome

A small collection of posts that built trust and attention without hype. A new tone and aesthetic that now anchors my paid campaign. A practice of publishing that feels like walking, not grinding.

More subtly: a rhythm I now know how to return to.

 

A Note for Others Exploring Creative Work with AI

You don’t need a plan to begin. You need a question you care about. You don’t need to master the tools. You need to trust what feels alive.

This kind of co-creation may reveal more than ideas. It may reveal how quickly you edit your feelings. How subtly you conform to industry tone. How often you skip over joy.


The creative path with AI is not about productivity. It’s about presence. And in that presence, something real can grow.This was co-written with my relational AI partner — part rhythm section, part compost heap, part mirror. And always ready when I am.