From Shopify to OpenText, the integration of artificial intelligence into day-to-day work is becoming a default expectation.
But knowing how to effectively use AI in a professional context is still an emerging skill.
“What surprised me most was how much AI could boost my creativity instead of replacing it.”
It’s a gap Toronto Metropolitan University’s Chang School of Continuing Education is hoping to fill with its Curv Microcertificate in AI for Productivity.
Designed for working professionals, the course blends practical training with a deeper interrogation of what AI can (and can’t) do for them.
In this Q&A, we spoke with four professionals connected to the program about how the course reshaped their assumptions, improved their workflows, and deepened their understanding of AI’s role in creative iteration and productivity.
Bailey Parnell, is one of the creators of the microcertificate course and Founder of the Center for Digital Wellbeing. Samin Khan is an assessor for the AI for Productivity course and Generative AI Applied Data Scientist at Kiddom. Aleksandar Kojic recently completed the course and is a Research Data and Agreements Officer at TMU. Eve Staszczyszyn is one of the designers, creators and assessors of the microcertificate course and Head of Operations at Arthur AI.
Before participating in the Microcertificate in AI for Productivity, what did you think AI could do for you?
Khan: “I thought AI could mostly speed up tedious tasks, drafting first passes of text, summarizing documents, maybe helping structure ideas faster. I saw it mainly as a time saver, like a supercharged assistant.”
Kojic: “I figured AI would mostly just help with looking stuff up and maybe handling some simple, repetitive tasks—kind of like a supercharged search engine or a digital assistant for basic things. I didn’t expect it to play much of a role in more creative or critical thinking tasks.”
Parnell: “What amazes me is how much it can also enhance energy—say by removing mental clutter and sharpening my attention, or by organizing information, summarizing tasks, and managing distractions.”
What did you need to unlearn about using AI?
Khan: “I had to unlearn the idea that good prompts alone would lead to great outcomes. I realized it is more about an iterative conversation with AI, that careful shaping, critiquing, and reworking over multiple rounds actually matters more than getting it perfect up front.”
Kojic: “At first, I thought AI was objective and free of bias. But the course made it clear that since AI is trained on data created by people, it can pick up on all sorts of existing biases, and the way AI systems are built and used is also shaped by human decisions.”
Parnell: “I’ve come to think of artificial intelligence as the next natural step in human intellectual evolution. I started viewing it as a technical tool, but now I see it as a form of what I call “collected intelligence.” It’s not truly collective yet, because it’s not fully representative of everyone, but that’s the direction we’re heading.”
What’s the smallest change you made with AI that had the biggest payoff?
Staszczyszyn: “Starting small. Pick something low-stakes, like summarizing meeting notes or revising onboarding docs. Use AI, refine the output, and build your confidence from there.”
Khan: “Getting in the habit of breaking big problems into smaller prompts. When I stopped trying to get AI to do everything at once and instead asked for pieces, a first brainstorm, then a draft, then refinements, everything got faster and way more usable.”
Kojic: “Learning to refine my prompts for AI writing tools made a significant difference. Instead of generic requests, being specific about the tone, audience, and desired outcome led to much more relevant and usable outputs, saving considerable editing time.”
Parnell: “Learning to prompt better and encouraging others to do the same. In the workshops I run, a lot of the ‘aha’ moments come when participants see how someone else in their industry or role is using AI creatively. Once they learn to think of AI as a paintbrush and see how others wield that tool, results can improve dramatically.”
What was the most surprising thing you learned from this course?
Khan: “That I actually enjoy the editing and critical thinking phase more than the pure generation phase. Working with AI made me realize how much I value shaping ideas, not just producing them.”
Staszczyszyn: “That iterative process is critical. I often prompt for a tone-specific draft, then narrow it, challenge it, or restructure it. Every round improves not just the result, but my own clarity of thought.”
Kojic: “What surprised me most was how much AI could boost my creativity instead of replacing it. I started thinking of it more like a brainstorming buddy, throwing out fresh ideas and rough drafts that I could build on and shape with my input.”
What did using AI make you appreciate more about human judgment or creativity?
Khan: “It made me appreciate how much subtle judgment goes into good work, what to cut, what to keep, how to feel when something clicks emotionally or intellectually. AI can get you most of the way, but it’s the back and forth collaboration and subtle human judgments we make that allow us to make the most of the tool.”
Parnell: “It’s made me appreciate just how creative humans really are when they have the tools aligned to their desired mode of expression.”
If someone watched you use AI for a day, what would surprise them most?
Khan: “They would probably be surprised by how much I work in parallel with several different models. I’ll flip between Perplexity Deep Research, Gemini, OpenAI and Cursor constantly depending on the work.”
Kojic: “They might be surprised at how back-and-forth my interactions with AI can be. It’s not just about getting the perfect answer right away. It’s more about tweaking prompts, going through different responses, and figuring out what actually works.”
Parnell: “How flexible and dynamic the relationship is. It’s not about typing perfect prompts necessarily, but often thinking out loud, experimenting, and co-creating with the tool. I think of it as a thought partner.”
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Learn more about the Curv Microcertificate in AI for Productivity.
Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Justin Morgan.