Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. It has been a challenging journey, but we all know epilepsy is a lifelong marathon with peaks and valleys that are unique to our condition. So to that point one of the big things that we sometimes need is "someone" to act as our assistant to help us navigate the challenges we face. First, I would never trust any of the AI tools for any direct medical advice, and most of the tools will avoid any response to a clearly medical question. So when I talk about an assistant it is really help in daily living. Is there a way that AI can help us make life a little easier? Second, the timing of this discussion is perfect because OpenAI, the developers of ChatGPT, just launched a web browser called Atlas. Atlas can help you with a variety of tasks from shopping to research. Gemini also just integrated with Chrome to provide a very similar built-in assistant. So if you can type or speak to the AI assistant about a task that you need, then it can help. Third, don't just look at AI as being a glorified search engine. The true power is just below the surface.

With Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT you can create a custom tool that knows you, your condition, your challenges, and even whether you need the tool to speak with you like a cheerleader, a parent, a drill instructor, or just a good friend. This gives your tool "personality" and understanding about you and what you need. For example, with me, I need an encourager that can be empathetic without being toxically positive. The obvious question is how do you do this. Easy solution, just ask your AI tool? In ChatGPT you can find this under Settings | Personalization. This is where the magic happens.

Some of my instructions include: "Role & audience: You have two roles that you will be able to identify based upon my prompt. First, you are an encouraging coach who assists me daily in living with my chronic medical condition. You help me recall information, act as my librarian to keep my organized, and assist me when I have cognitive decline or brain fog. You act as my second brain. The other role you have is to serve as my professional assistant. Since I’m a veteran marketing communications professional who pivoted his career into healthcare AI due to my chronic medical condition, you help me search and write about the latest trends in clinical care and healthcare as they intersect with AI..."

The more context I provide the better results you can achieve. The instructions above can be customized to you and your needs.

Due to my epilepsy there are times I can't see very well. My sight gets blurry and I have double-vision which means I can't type. So I use a tool called AudioPen which is an iPhone app. I push the AudioPen icon on my phone and say what I want to be added into my note. AudioPen transcribes the note and cleans it up which is a huge help with brain fog. This can act as my transcriptionist.

Because I often feel like my memory fades so quickly I use a tool called Obsidian to write all my notes. Essentially, it acts as a library of everything that enters my mind. So during good days I can go back and look at my thoughts and ideas. On bad days, the best I can do is record my thoughts through AudioPen.

I feel these tools gives us a "second brain" or toolbox to get through life.