10 = Podcast Individual #9
Episode 9
AI Made Me Question If I'm Still A Storyteller Or Just A Prompt Engineer
Vani looked at six months of AI-assisted work and tried to identify, honestly, which ideas were hers. The answer was complicated. This episode is the week she spent figuring it out — and the practical test she built at the end of it.
Play On
0:00
1:32 min
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Chapters
0:00
Cold open — the idea she could not trace back to herself
3:20
Six months of work. One honest audit.
7:10
The difference between filtering AI output and authoring work
11:30
Where the line between prompt engineer and storyteller actually sits
15:50
The one-question test she now runs on every project
19:40
Why the discomfort is useful — and what to do with it
Key Takeaways
- Authorship is not about where the first draft came from. It is about whose instincts shaped the brief, whose taste filtered the output, and whose judgment made the final call. If you cannot answer those three questions, the authorship question is worth sitting with.
- The discomfort of not knowing if an idea is yours is a signal, not a verdict. This episode turns it into a diagnostic.
- A prompt engineer and a storyteller can use the exact same tools. The difference is in what they bring to the process before the model starts.
Show Notes
There is a version of AI-assisted creative work where the author is clearly present. Instincts shape the brief. Taste filters the output. Judgment makes the final call. And then there is a version where the first draft came from the model, the structure came from the model, the language came from the model — and the human moved some things around. Vani spent a week trying to determine, honestly, which version she had been in for the past six months.
Key Insight: The question is not whether AI is in the workflow. It is whether you are. Those are different questions — and only one of them most creative professionals are asking themselves regularly.
The audit she ran on six months of AI-assisted work produced a complicated answer. Some projects were clearly hers. Others were harder to trace. One idea she had cited in a client presentation as her own instinct — she could not, when she examined it carefully, confirm that it had not originated with the model. That had never happened before. This episode is the honest account of what she did with that finding — and the practical test she built to make sure it does not happen again.
Topics Covered
The specific moment Vani could not tell whether an idea originated with her or the AI — and why that matters
What creative authorship actually means in a workflow where AI generates the raw material
The difference between filtering output and originating work
The one-question test she now runs on every project to stay on the right side of the line
Vani Aggarwal
Filmmaker, AI Strategist, Host of AI Made Me Do It
With 16+ years across six countries, Vani has directed for National Geographic India, Discovery Channel India, Fox Life, and India Today. She is an AI strategy consultant, ICF-certified executive coach, and the person who audited six months of her own work and did not entirely love what she found.
Website X Linkdin
16+
Years in Media
350K+
Course Learners
6
Countries Worked In
"I couldn't remember if the idea was mine. That had never happened before."
- Vani Aggarwal
Resources Mentioned
Articles & Guides
Tools
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Related Episodes
AI Made Me Keep My Voice
Where the authorship question started. The episode about the decision Vani made before the workflow was built.
AI Made Me Automate Myself Out Of My Own Workflow
What happens when the system works so well it no longer needs you in it.
AI Made Me 10X My Output (And Lose My Creative Identity)
The productivity version of the same identity question. More output, less presence.
Work with me
The authorship question in this episode is not abstract for organizations using AI in creative work. When a team’s output is substantially AI-generated, the questions of accountability, quality standards, and creative ownership become structural problems, not personal ones. I work with creative teams on building the frameworks that keep human judgment visible and legible inside AI-assisted workflows.
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PODCAST
Not sure how much
your recent work is
actually yours?
Most creatives using AI regularly have felt this. Very few have examined it directly. This episode does — and it ends with a practical test you can run on your own work this week.
Ask Your Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I listen to AI Made Me Do It?
New episodes publish every Tuesday on YouTube and Spotify. Subscribe on either platform to get them automatically.
Does this episode conclude that using AI makes you less of a creative?
No. It concludes that the question of authorship requires active attention in an AI-assisted workflow — and that most creatives are not giving it that attention. The episode is about building the practice of checking, not about passing judgment on the tools.
What is the one-question test Vani uses to check creative authorship?
The full test is inside the episode. The short version: before the project closes, Vani asks herself whether she can trace the core creative decisions — not the execution, the decisions — back to her own instincts and judgment. If she cannot, that is information worth acting on.
What is the difference between a prompt engineer and a storyteller, as Vani defines it?
Both can use identical tools. The distinction is in what they bring before the model starts — the instinct that shapes the brief, the taste that sets the constraints, the judgment that evaluates the output. A storyteller is present in those moments. A prompt engineer manages the interface between them.
Is this episode relevant for creative teams, or just individual practitioners?
Both. Individual creatives will recognize the personal dimension of the authorship question. Team leads and creative directors will recognize the organizational version — when a team’s collective output becomes difficult to trace back to human creative decision-making.
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Does Your Team Know Where Its Creative Judgment Lives In The AI Workflow?
Most do not — because the workflow was built for speed, not for accountability. If you need to make human creative decision-making visible and legible inside an AI-assisted process, I work with teams on building exactly that kind of structure.
Vani
Aggarwal
Whether you’re a studio executive looking for a fresh directorial voice, a brand in need of impactful
