AI Has No Place in Your Zone of Genius

In this episode of The AIQUALISER Podcast, John Bennett talks with Victoria Westcott, who juggles many roles including producing films and managing a winery, about how she uses AI across very different businesses and why the one place she keeps it out is the work she cares about most.Victoria and her sister Jen make independent films. To do that without a studio or investor, they need income that does not take over their lives. AI makes it possible to run a cleaning company, a landscaping business, a YouTube coaching channel and a side-line in wordsearch books, creating income without any of them becoming 'a job'.Victoria shares where she finds AI most useful but also where it does not work. Film budgets have defeated it despite a lot of trying: union rates, location-specific tax credits, and constantly shifting figures are more than it can reliably handle. Writing convincingly in a specific author's voice is similarly out of reach. Her most unexpected use case is something different altogether: a personal GPT built around the twelve-week year methodology, which plans her daily meals based on her schedule, fridge contents, and protein targets. The episode closes with advice for creative people uncertain about where AI belongs in their work. Victoria's answer: use it for everything outside your zone of genius and keep it away from the work only you can do. In This Episode- Victoria's route from inner-city teaching to independent filmmaking- How the AI helps Victoria create businesses to fund the films- AI and the Toronto International Film Festival: researching and personalising at scale- Different approaches across film, cleaning, YouTube, and word search books- Negative scaffolding: what it is, why AI does it, and how to remove it- Where AI falls short: film budgets and voice replication- The protein tracker GPT and why it works- Why most people using AI are making more work for themselves, not less- Zone of genius as a practical filter for every AI decision- Advice for creative people who want to use AI without losing their voiceChapters- 00:00 Introduction to Victoria Westcott- 07:44 AI for the mundane stuff- 17:34 Juggling roles with AI- 29:50 Negative scaffolding- 31:58 What AI can and can't do- 40:44 Protecting creative work- 52:10 Listener question: the zone of genius- 57:39 If AI disappeared tomorrow