7th November, 2025

AI as an Unpacker of Meaning. Feed AI a dense text and it may well unveils new perspectives on what you are thinking about.

I’ve been experimenting with AI lately, but not in the way most people think. I didn’t use it to generate poetry or stories from scratch. I used it as a tool to unpack the meaning of my dense, fragmented ideas and, in turn, guide me to deeper insights. I’m starting to see AI not just as a reflection of what I put into it, but as a catalyst for exploration — if I give it something rich and complex, it can help me peel back the layers and find new lines of thought I wouldn’t have uncovered otherwise.

**TL;DR: ** AI isn’t here to replace creativity. It’s here to help unpack it. If you feed it complex, rich text, AI can help you explore deeper meanings, uncover hidden layers, and refine your work. The more intricate the input, the more valuable the output — but only if you keep the entropy coming. Much like explaining a problem to a colleague or a friend, talking through your ideas with AI can unearth new insights that take your work to the next level.

In a recent experiment, I posted a 33-post poem on Bluesky — fragmented, messy, raw. It was a direct, emotional outpouring. But when I looked at it afterward, it felt like a jumble. I needed clarity. So I turned to AI to see what it could help me untangle. I didn’t expect it to rewrite the poem. I asked it to unpack my language, to push me to think more deeply about what I had written, and to challenge me where I was avoiding clarity.

The result? The AI didn’t create new content; it helped me dig deeper into my own thoughts, uncovering new layers of meaning I hadn’t considered. It turned out that the more complex the input, the more valuable the AI’s responses became. It didn’t just mirror my ideas; it untangled them, revealing patterns and connections I couldn’t see at first.

Why AI Works Best When It Has Something Meaty to Work With

The common refrain I see about AI is “garbage in, garbage out.” And it’s true — if you feed AI a bland prompt like, “Write me a story about a unicorn,” it’s going to return generic, uninspired results. You’ll get slop. But what happens when you give AI a dense prompt? Something that requires deeper thought, more context, more complexity?

Here’s where things get interesting: AI has the ability to unpack dense text and reveal new insights. Think of it as a steam engine. The more fuel (or “entropy”) you throw into it, the more it can burn through and generate. If all you’re giving it is a simple request, it’s like throwing a match into the fire. But if you load it up with thick, complex material, it will generate more intricate and thoughtful responses.

In my case, I took my fragmented poem, a piece that was intentionally chaotic and unpolished, and fed it into the AI. Instead of asking it to rewrite the poem, I asked the AI to unpack it. The more nuanced and intricate the language, the more it dug in. It uncovered deeper patterns, reflected on my choice of words, and even pointed out emotional contradictions I hadn’t seen. In that process, it helped me clarify the message — not replace it.

AI as the “Unpacker” — Not a Creator

AI doesn’t create for you. But it unpacks. It takes your input, your dense, messy ideas, and dissects them. If you’re feeding it complex or layered work, it won’t return simplistic answers. It will push the envelope, pulling out lines of thought that you might have missed in your initial draft.

Here’s a good way to think about it: Imagine you’re a developer stuck on a tricky problem. You’ve spent hours trying to debug, trying to get your code to work, but nothing’s clicking. Then, you decide to explain the problem to someone else — maybe even a non-developer. As you start explaining the issue, you realize something: you’ve just solved it by talking it out.

In much the same way, AI can be that “sounding board” for unpacking your own creative ideas. It may not have all the answers, but it forces you to articulate what’s going on in your head. By interacting with it, you start to notice patterns or gaps in your thinking. It doesn’t create the solution for you, but it can unlock something you wouldn’t have seen if you hadn’t walked through it step by step.

How This Works in Practice

I learned this through the conversation I had with the AI about my poem. I didn’t ask it to generate new lines or alter the structure. Instead, I asked it to unpack:

Why did I use these particular metaphors?

What do these words really mean?

What emotional state was I really trying to express?

The AI didn’t just say, “Your metaphor about the ‘shattered mirror’ is good,” or, “This line doesn’t work.” It helped me explore the meaning behind the words. It pushed me to consider why I chose a certain phrase, and it helped me dig deeper into the emotions I was trying to communicate.

If I had fed it something more basic — like “write me a poem about a unicorn” — it would’ve returned a piece of canned content. But because I fed it something dense, something raw and messy, the AI was able to unpack my ideas and help me see new layers of meaning that weren’t immediately obvious.

The Takeaway: Fuel the Engine, Don’t Expect It to Create

The key takeaway is this: AI needs to be fueled with complexity to reveal the deeper meanings hidden in our own work. Just like a steam engine requires coal to run, AI requires rich, complex input to produce meaningful output. If you feed it something simple, you’ll get something simple back. But if you shovel in complexity — if you load it up with dense, layered ideas — the AI will push you to unpack them in ways that spark new insights.

Here’s the thing — this is exactly how creative breakthroughs happen. Whether you’re a writer, developer, or artist, the process of verbalizing or externalizing your challenges often helps you find the solution. It’s like talking to a friend or a colleague about the problem — you might not even realize the answer until it’s out in the open. AI acts as that external partner that helps you articulate what’s blocking you, and in doing so, it pushes you to uncover answers you didn’t even know you were looking for.

AI is not a creator in the traditional sense. It’s not going to generate art or stories from nothing. But as a tool for reflection and unpacking meaning, it can push the boundaries of what we create and help us discover insights we didn’t even know we were searching for.

So, when you’re working with AI, think of it as a partner that helps untangle complexity, not a tool that generates content. It’s up to you to keep feeding the engine, and it’s in that process that you’ll find the real value of AI in creativity.

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