Airtable - When AI Tries to Help on Day One

Today marks my first expedition into Airtable, "a cloud-based platform that blends the familiar, user-friendly interface of a spreadsheet with the powerful, structured functionality of a relational database". As with most websites like this, it was keen to give me a tutorial and a customized project to start with.

Omni AI whipped up some sample data for me

My "Airtable Learning Playground"

Airtable's resident AI, Omni, asked me about my job and company and when I explained I'm trying to pivot from a career in teaching English to a life of LCNC (Low-code, No-code) tech consulting, it created some sample data from a fictional English school under the title "Airtable Learning Playground."

"Actually, I'm new to Airtable and am here to learn how to use it so I can make a career change from teaching English to teaching tech." ~ Me

"Your "Airtable Learning Playground" app is designed to help you explore, organize, and automate sample data as you transition from teaching English to teaching tech." ~ Omni

AI tools are literal

By mentioning that I have an English school, Omni's instinct was to create data based on what it knew, not on what I might actually need. While a school setting is familiar to me, it's unlikely I'll be consulting for English schools in the future. Perhaps Omni could have created data for a traditional office environment instead?

Next step: zombies

As it is, for me to wake up excited to learn Airtable, I need to do something that Omni won't expect. I'm going to delete this perfectly fine English School data and work on something much more fun, a scenario where the stakes are higher. Yes! I'm going to make a zombie apocalypse survival kit! If I can track ammo, rations, and safe houses, I can probably track business assets and whatnot later.