Do you know what a mandoline is? No, not the somewhat obscure blue-grass adjacent stringed instrument. The razor-sharp cooking utensil.
About a month ago, I had a pretty nasty experience with one, cutting my hand quite badly; in fact, probably the worst cut I’ve ever had in the kitchen. I was lucky to not get stitches, bandaging up the cut with so much antiseptic cream it’s not funny, and after several weeks of being extra careful with it, finally had it heal back to normal… albeit with one all mighty scar to show for it.
Why am I talking about this? It could be my LinkedIn-addled brain finally starting to view my personal experiences through the lens of business, if I’m being honest.
So let’s think about it. A mandoline allows you to cut foods ultra-thin by having you slide them backwards and forwards, with a razor-sharp blade and a small opening in the middle providing the cutting. It’s great for potatoes, cabbage – basically anything that needs to be cut thin. Short of being a professional chef (and even then…) it’s better than any outcome with a kitchen knife.
And yet! It’s quite unsafe, as you can tell. Particularly as you get to the end of the thing you’re cutting, suddenly your fingers are in the firing line. Even beyond that, some foods can be particularly hard to cut through, even with the sharpest blade, meaning additional force may be required.
Where am I going with this? Well, the mandoline is AI, isn’t it? This amazing tool that can expedite processes and tasks, delivering something that most of us couldn’t even imagine. And yet, if we don’t use it properly and treat it with respect, the results could be potentially dangerous. I’m not talking “Skynet” or anything here, but terrible copy, shitty looking ads and buggy apps.
What I haven’t mentioned in all this is that mandolines in fact come with guards – plastic protectors you jam into the food you’re cutting that ultimately never let your hands get anywhere near the blade. I’d like to think that we are the guards in this AI parallel I’m drawing. AI needs prompters and drivers and most importantly reviewers to ensure that we avoid the dangerous stuff and get the best quality content out of this thing.
Yes, there is also the discussion to be had about the sharpness of the blade. Not all AI-generation platforms are created equal, and you don’t want to be left talking to the wrong robot. It’s only through working with these platforms consistently for a long period of time, reviewing what is working and what is not, that you can become truly adept at getting the right outcomes out of the process.
The genie is out of the bottle. No one wants to eat chunky potato gratin anymore. They want the finest Potato Dauphinoise with expertly cut quarter-inch thick slices of potatoes lovingly snuggled in a baking dish. But what they don’t want is your blood making it into the final product.
So, use a guard when it comes to your mandoline, and your AI-prompts, and watch your brand benefit accordingly.
