I asked AI for help with DIY. It told me to build a subfloor on rotting stumps, but also taught me valuable lessons

‘Our kids have, quite rightly and repeatedly, mocked me for asking ChatGPT for renovation advice,’ writes Myke Bartlett. Photograph: Neustockimages/Getty Images

I am not, by nature, an early adopter. There comes a point in our lives where change becomes more irritating than exciting and, I suspect, I reached it sooner than most. But when a workplace recently tasked me with exploring practical applications for AI, I spotted an opportunity to cast off my luddite inclinations.

It turned out AI was very good at mimicking most of the things I could already do. Irrespective of quality, it could churn out articles, reports, presentations, fiction, even podcasts with stammering hosts. That was no use to me. What I wanted help with was all the stuff I was useless at. There was an obvious target: DIY.