Being Used by AI? Or Using AI?

Greetings

Hello.

It's an intriguing title, but
this is...

Yesterday (February 28, 2026)
at the seminar held in Osaka called "U-Lab",

"Don't be fooled by lies in the AI era!
How to use AI to leverage your individuality"

...is one of the insights I gained from attending.

What kind of seminar was it?

It was a lecture held in the form of a "dialogue" between
Katsuhiro Okazaki (an entrepreneur, corporate trainer, and business book author)...
(Kacchan-sensei might not like being called "sensei,
but since he is an instructor, he is a sensei)

and
Masakazu Hattori (an administrative scrivener, specialized book & business book author)...
(Since he is a great senior with impressive achievements,
he is naturally a "sensei")

The lecture was conducted in the form of a "dialogue" between the two of them.

To begin with, what is "U-Lab"?

Explaining it would take a long time, and I don't fully understand it myself,
so I will omit a detailed explanation, but...

Administrative Scrivener Masakazu Hattori and
Entrepreneur Katsuhiro Okazaki.

Using the knowledge and experience of the two gentlemen above as a weapon,
"legal regulations," "business," and "society"
and other mechanisms' "behind the scenes"...

In other words, a place to uncover the "tricks"
not generally known. That is what "U-Lab" apparently is.

By the way, the "U-Lab"
website is here.
(It was originally called
"Legal Regulation Group Advisor")

Activities of "U-Lab"

...Doesn't that sound interesting?

There is a monthly membership fee, but it includes
a monthly Zoom meeting,
2-3 newsletters per month,
and lectures like this one.

(Well, you can
participate in the lectures
even if you aren't in U-Lab)

The intellectual excitement of being able to peek in detail
at a world you don't know much about.
The pleasure of slapping your knee and saying,
"So that's what that was about!"

As a price to pay for this deepening of knowledge,
I actually think
a membership fee of a few thousand yen
is cheap.

"Oshi-katsu" (supporting your favorite) is not advertising

No, I won't be advertising.

On this note, I have decided
not to engage in any "advertising"
activities,
including affiliate links, whatsoever.

What I recommend is only what
I "have bought myself" and
what I "can truly say I'm glad I bought."

Also, about "Oshi" (my favorite).

I will definitely keep pushing my "Oshi"
on this note as well.

It's only natural.
What's wrong with pushing your "Oshi"?

I love people and works that have
a bit of a "quirk" to them, and I often push them.

...Well, I'm not really
drawn to "ordinary things" or "safe things."

Administrative scrivener Masakazu Hattori is also
one of those many
"Oshi" of mine.

The "Oshi" of my "Oshi" is...

I have to talk about the title too, but
first, let me tell you this.

It seems that my "Oshi,"
Masakazu Hattori, has "Chiikawa" and "Yoichi Ochiai"
as his own "Oshi."

Yoichi Ochiai-san,
I barely knew anything about him
other than his name.

(As an aside, his father is
the author Nobuhiko Ochiai.)

And now, addressing the title.

To put it simply,
a "song created using AI"
by Yoichi Ochiai
for last year's Osaka-Kansai Expo
was introduced
at this seminar, but...

According to Mr. Hattori,
"It's not just this song;
every song just reeks of 'Yoichi Ochiai'."
Even though it was a song generated
by typing prompts into an AI, he says.

I see. That makes sense.

If the original prompt
is "super-unique,"
it is no surprise that
a "unique" result is generated.

This is
what it means to "use AI as your own tool."

Conversely...
(This is my personal opinion, but)
people who, as a result of leaving the creative parts to AI,
end up creating "results that look the same no matter who makes them."

Frankly,
these are "safe and uninteresting" results.
For example, the kind of text often found online...
That "ChatGPT style."
(The kind that anyone who knows can spot instantly.)

I would say that people who put out things like this
are "people being used by AI."

Well, after attending this seminar,
that is something I thought about.

Don't be used by AI!

This is a bit of a departure
from the seminar talk.

What is "individuality"?
Can I also express "individuality"?

...For those who are thinking this,
first of all, please look at your own writing.

Before you "leave it entirely to AI,"
I would like you to stop
and think for a moment.

What is your purpose in feeding text to AI?
Is it to "summarize" ideas?
Is it to "proofread" your writing?

That further 'core'...
In other words, have you been leaving even the creative parts
entirely up to AI...?

When you encounter your own 'individuality'

Also...
When there is a part
that you absolutely 'do not want to compromise on'
among the 'suggested revisions' that the AI has provided.

You must absolutely
not correct it
'as the AI says'.

Because it is precisely at those times
that your 'individuality'
must be residing
in that part.