How this AI trainer is putting the human before the tech in her new book

The best way to approach AI is by adopting a human-first approach. Use it to enhance your expertise, not replace it.

Leanne Shelton is a Global AI Coach and Trainer at Human Edge AI Training in Sydney, Australia. Just two years ago, Leanne was a copywriter and marketer like me. Unlike other creatives who have struggled to come to terms with a technology that they fear might eventually replace them (it won’t!), Leanne chose to approach AI with curiosity and ended up creating a new niche and business for herself. This week, her first book, AI Human Fusion: A Non-Techie, Human-First Approach to AI for Busy Leaders is launching in Australia. I sat down with Leanne to talk about her journey and how she used AI to write her book.

Leanne, let’s start with a quick introduction. Who are you, and what do you do?

I'm the Global AI Coach and Trainer at Human Edge AI training. My background is in copywriting and marketing. A couple of years ago, when ChatGPT released, I saw a gap in the market and a chance to use my skills as a copywriter and marketer. I began to use my experience and expertise as a words person to help people understand prompt engineering but also how to massage the output, make it quality and human centric and help the message land for their audiences.

You’ve written a book on AI. What have you covered in the book, and why do you think it would be useful for someone to read?

The subtitle of my book is: A non-techie, human-first approach to AI for busy leaders. Ultimately, I wrote the book to stop people from feeling overwhelmed about the whole AI space, because even though ChatGPT has been around for two and a half years, there are still people freaking out about being replaced.

On the other side, there are people using all the tools and wasting time on tools that just aren't secure or great quality. There's a lot of noise and hype around it, without an understanding of what AI should actually do for humanity.

The book talks through the HABITS framework which provides a holistic perspective on AI for leaders in corporate as well as entrepreneurs. H stands for the human side -getting the human mindset in the right place for AI. It's about using AI to support our experience and expertise, not replace it.

It's about focusing on the humans first, and what human-first means. I often hear the term AI-first which is a huge buzzword especially overseas. To me, it sounds like you're putting systems and processes like automation ahead of your human team members.

I believe it should always be humans first, with AI coming in second. A is for the AI, like ChatGPT, which is generative AI to understand your business, brand, voice and customer.

Then comes BI that stands for business integration. In this part, we talk about the ethical and responsible use of AI. It also includes sustainability, security aspects, the legal aspects, like IP and copyright with AI, things that often get overlooked.

TS stands for tactical strategy. As a leader how do you get your team along for the ride? How do you embed AI into your work culture in a healthy way that's not making everyone feel threatened or replacing people, and the importance of team training to get everyone on the same page. So the whole framework takes everyone on a journey instead of team members being directed to use tools in isolation and they don’t see the bigger picture.

Can you tell me how you used AI to write your book and include specific examples?

It was important for me, even though it's an AI book, that it wasn't written by AI. As a writer, I felt like I just couldn't do that. I want it to be mine. I want to proudly put it out in the world as a human-first book.

Approximately 95 per cent of the book or more was written by me and my human contributors. Where I’ve used AI, I’ve clearly explained it chapter by chapter.

• It helped me with the initial chapters outline.

• It helped me write the pitch to the publisher.

• Brainstorm interviewee questions and fun chapter names to start me off.

• It helped clarify heavier and more complex topics like ethical, responsible AI, which can be ambiguous, and draft a few opening sentences in my voice.

• Generate a chapter summary for each of the fifteen chapters that I edited heavily.

• It helped with formatting the chapters.

I wanted to be really transparent about how I used it as well as include the prompts for the reader to try. I want to practice what I preach and not be disingenuous, because that’s not my message.

The book had to be authentic. Anyone who's read it says that it sounds like me. There are one or two chapters where I did rely on AI a bit more to help with ideas and suggestions such as use cases for HR which isn’t my area of expertise.

As a creative, what guardrails have you put in place to protect your creativity and make sure you don't suffer from skill atrophy?

I purposely don't experiment with different tools constantly or read all the updates, because I feel it’s just noise that overwhelms me.

I feel like my writing process is different now even though I have written a book. This year, I set myself a goal to publish an AI LinkedIn newsletter every week while writing the book.

I didn’t want to use up my creativity on the thought leadership pieces because I really wanted to focus on the book. So I used AI to suggest some topics for me using my workshops, my keynotes and my book chapters - but I’d always be involved in the process.

So I'd ask ChatGPT to give me an outline and map that out for me. I’d ask it to draft and then I'll tweak the draft.

My social media posts are all still me because it’s human-to-human communication. I use AI to help me repurpose my existing content and stop me from reinventing the wheel. For example, I ran an online masterclass on lead magnets. I used ChatGPT to help me map out 80 per cent of a decent lead magnet email sequence that I would have otherwise procrastinated about for ages.

It's helping me get things done, but I'm still keeping myself involved by reviewing it and changing it. My newsletter is written by a team member which I review and edit. I’m not using AI for my newsletter, because once again, I feel like it's real, direct communication to people in their inboxes.

I'm not relying on AI to write it all for me. It's always me giving it my rough notes for the topic and asking ChatGPT to structure it. Either I agree with it, or I prompt it to get it to where I want it to be. I'm not starting from a blank page.

What are your top three tips for creatives when it comes to using AI?

1. Train the tool so it really understands your business, brand, voice and customer and supports you. It's not replacing your thinking. Remember that you as a creative know more than the tool. Don't ever think that it knows better and question yourself and your knowledge.

2. Trust your own experience and expertise.

   If it gives you something different than what your thinking is, don’t choose to just go with it. It’s not an all-knowing being. Train it but also critique it.

   I find my critical thinking is different now, because instead of me wasting energy on getting started, it gets me started.

3. Use it as creative fuel.

   When AI generates content, most people get really excited about that and then publish or send it straight away. Don’t do that. Use it as fuel for your creativity and critical thinking; it’s just the starting point. It helps you push through the procrastination or blank page fear so that so you can actually embrace more of your creativity and critical thinking. The time you save can be put towards meeting people in real life, for example.
   

   Be conscious of how you’re spending that extra time. Make sure you’re connecting more with your team members, with yourself, with your family, and not just finding more tools to save more time potentially.

   If it’s replacing your critical thinking, you're using it wrong. Be part of the creation process with AI. Don’t just hand it over, which a lot of people do. That's not the human-first approach. It needs to be used ethically.

What’s your advice for creatives who fear AI will change the way they work or interact with clients?

Rather than fear AI, be curious about how your role could evolve. I'm living proof of that, right? See where the opportunity is.

I know photographers who are using AI tools to get through all the crappy editing stage faster. They train it because they know what they know.

Remember that you have skills that no one else has, and one day, people will probably pay you more knowing the human did it, rather than just a crappy AI tool. Your value will probably increase. You can't bury your head in the sand about it and pretend it's not happening. Tell yourself, "I'm a writer. AI is here. What opportunities are out there that could help me become more of a consultant?”

For example, you could learn how to create chat bots for clients or custom GPTs to enhance the briefing process. Maybe as a photographer you can run photography courses with AI and how to do it properly. Be open to where things could go.

Leanne’s book, AI Human Fusion: A Non-Techie, Human-First Approach to AI for Busy Leaders is available from her website, and in all major bookstores on Tuesday June 24, 2025. Follow Leanne on LinkedIn.

About

AI & You is where I’ll be writing about how to live and work healthily with AI without losing your humanity. As a writer, it’s my way of understanding just how much AI will impact creatives like me and to find a way forward where AI and human creativity can exist side by side.

This article has been written by a human (me). I’ve used ChatGPT to edit my work.

These are my thoughts and opinions only and not meant to represent any organisation or individual.