How AI Helped Me Rebuild My Life — Not My Bank Balance

Every day my feed flashes the same dream.

“Make £10k a month with Ai.” “Build a six-figure business overnight.”

Good luck to them. But that’s not my story.

Ai didn’t make me rich. It helped me rebuild.

Thirty-seven hours after the sentencing ended, something strange happened. My brain woke up. For three years, I’d felt nothing, no spark, no creativity, just fog during the whole of the court case.

Before that, I was the classic entrepreneur. Ideas at 3 a.m., notes on scraps of paper, voice memos in the car. Then one day, it all stopped, the day we found out David Carr, my FD of 9 years, had been systematically stealing from me since the day he started working for me in 2013.

When I finally came back to life, I had something new.... Ai. Not to replace me, but to help me catch the thoughts before they slipped away again. It became the space where I could throw my chaos, my scars, my half-formed ideas… and see what stuck. It didn’t give me money. It gave me momentum.

Before Ai, my ideas lived on scraps of paper or half-mumbled voice notes. Most disappeared. Now I throw everything into Ai... messy, unfiltered, unfinished and it gives them shape before they vanish.

It doesn’t replace emotion. It doesn’t feel my scars or the weight of the last few years. But it helps me express them and that changed everything.

This morning I woke early, brain racing. By nine a.m. I’d written a post, designed an image, and drafted two newsletters and all on my iPhone, while Becky(wife) slept. A few years ago that would have taken a week or i would have needed help or more likely it would have never happened at all. Now I move at the speed my thoughts arrive.

That’s what amplification looks like. Ai hasn’t made me less human. It’s made me more human, because now I’m showing up again.

There’s no doubt Ai will reshape plenty of roles. But the real shift isn’t about which jobs go. It’s about who grows.

The people who will thrive are the ones who use Ai to multiply their authenticity.... not mask it. The ones who let it sharpen their message, not replace their meaning.

And here’s the part most people miss. Ai only knows what you’re brave enough to share. If you’re not vulnerable with it.... if you only feed it safe scraps.... it’ll never sound like you.....It’ll sound like everyone else.

I’ve given it everything. The scars. The flaws. The raw bits most people hide. That’s why my work still sounds like me. Because I’ve let it in.

Most people won’t. They can’t even be vulnerable with their partner or their team, so the last thing they’ll do is be vulnerable with Ai. That’s why their work will always sound polished.... but never personal.

And for the critics, a simple truth: I don’t copy and paste. I check every word before it goes out. I edit for meaning, tone, and truth. Like finances, as I only know too well, there are checks and balances.... a lesson I’ve obviously learned the hard way. If it’s not my voice, it doesn’t go out. I own what I say.

The future won’t belong to Ai. It’ll belong to the humans who use it to be more human.

Ai didn’t take my voice. It gave it back.

#StrippedBack #CrispGuy #Authenticity #AIandHumanity #Leadership #Vulnerability