Welcome to my AI Blog!

Here, I will be writing reflections for my A-I 285 class at Penn State. Follow along with my AI journey this semester!

Week 1

My First Blog Post!

Hi, I’m Delaney! I’m a senior at Penn State majoring in Human-Centered Design and Development, and I’m excited to be diving deeper into the world of artificial intelligence.

The rapid growth of AI is both fascinating and transformative. I believe it’s more important than ever to not only understand how AI works but also learn how to use it responsibly and effectively. As someone passionate about design and technology, I see AI as a tool that can enhance creativity, problem-solving, and user experience when applied thoughtfully.

Through this class, I’m hoping to strengthen my AI literacy and gain meaningful insights into its emerging role in our daily lives and future careers. To support my learning, I’ll also be experimenting with ChatGPT—using it to help refine my writing, structure my thoughts, and communicate my ideas clearly.

I chose to display this content on my personal website as a way to showcase my learning journey in AI.

I’m looking forward to tracking my growth, sharing my reflections, and building a stronger understanding of how AI can shape the way we learn, work, and design for the future.

Week 2

New Tools and “Vibe Coding”

Key Learning Moments

This week, I learned about different AI tools and the concept of “vibe coding.” Some of the tools we explored included:

  • Lovable – an AI-based website builder

  • Chatfuel – a no-code chatbot builder

  • Zapier – a workflow automation platform

Personal Connections

I think it’s great that there are easy ways to build websites and increase productivity. These platforms make it possible to create without needing to write code, which is especially helpful for smaller projects or early-stage prototypes. In fact, this website is technically a no-code platform too.

That said, I don’t believe no-code should ever fully replace traditional coding. AI isn’t human—it can miss things, overlook context, and produce buggy results if the prompts aren’t crystal clear. Even then, there’s no guarantee the output will be perfect. These tools are incredibly useful, but I think they work best when paired with some tech knowledge and basic coding skills. That way, you can review and refine what the AI produces and use it as a true copilot.

This idea of using AI as a copilot really resonates with me. I enjoy exploring tools that boost productivity and creativity, but I also value having control and understanding over what’s happening behind the scenes. That balance between automation and human oversight is key to building things that actually work.

Challenges and Growth

One challenge I faced this week was pushing myself to try new tools and break out of my AI comfort zone. It’s easy to stick with what you know, but there’s so much out there to explore. I had to remind myself that experimenting—even if it feels awkward at first—is part of the learning process.

AI Tools Documentation

For this specific post, I used Microsoft Copilot to help with wording and structure. It didn’t write the reflection for me, but it helped me organize my thoughts and polish the language so everything flowed better.

I’m looking forward to what next week has in store. There’s still so much to learn, and I’m excited to keep exploring new tools and ideas.

Week 3

AI: A Game-Changer for Early-Stage Ideation

This week, I experimented with using AI as a brainstorming partner for startup ideation, and the results were eye-opening. Here's how I structured my AI-assisted ideation process and what I learned along the way.

My AI Brainstorming Process

I started by clearly stating my startup proposition to the AI. From there, I asked it to help me create detailed personas of potential stakeholders—thinking through who might be interested in, affected by, or involved with my startup idea.

Next came the most interesting part: I conducted mock interviews with the AI, having it roleplay as each of these stakeholder personas. This allowed me to explore different perspectives and uncover potential pain points I hadn't initially considered.

After these "interviews," I asked the AI to summarize the potential user needs that emerged from our conversations. This synthesis was incredibly valuable—it helped me see patterns and priorities across different stakeholder groups.

Using those identified needs, I was able to ideate specific use cases for my startup concept. The AI then helped me think through potential constraints and challenges I might face, giving me a more realistic view of what I'd be getting into.

What Worked Well

The AI excelled at several key areas:

  • Rapid persona generation: Creating detailed, realistic stakeholder profiles in minutes rather than hours

  • Perspective-taking: Roleplaying different viewpoints helped me see blind spots in my thinking

  • Data synthesis: Summarizing insights and presenting them in clear, actionable formats

  • Systematic thinking: Keeping me organized and ensuring I covered all angles

Important Limitations to Remember

While this process was extremely helpful, I want to be clear: AI doesn't replace the importance of connecting with real users and conducting actual customer interviews. Real human insights, market validation, and genuine customer input remain irreplaceable.

What AI provides is an excellent starting point for ideation—a way to rapidly explore possibilities and organize your thinking before you go out into the world to validate your assumptions with real people.

The Power of Human + AI Collaboration

When AI is combined with human experience and intuition, it becomes incredibly insightful. The AI helped me think more systematically and consider angles I might have missed, while my human judgment guided the process and interpreted the results.

For this specific brainstorming session, I used Claude AI, and I'm impressed with its ability to maintain context across our multi-step conversation and provide nuanced responses during the stakeholder roleplay.

What's Next

I'm experimenting with different AI tools each week to see which ones work best for different aspects of the startup process. This comparative approach is helping me understand the unique strengths of each platform.

I'm excited to see what I learn next week and discover new ways to improve my startup ideation process with AI assistance. The key is finding the right balance between AI-powered efficiency and human-centered validation.