First of all, know that this article was not written using artificial intelligence (like all the articles on this blog, by the way), but rather by the brain of a girl in her underwear, sitting in her living room on a Friday night when the words are racing through her head too fast for her to sleep.
Also know that said girl navigates daily between her roles as a modern and uncertain mother, a self-taught entrepreneur chasing time, and a thirty-something addicted to her phone—all of that with as much modesty as disillusionment. In short, I’m just an ordinary girl with an opinion. And a business.
Flambette is a heartled company, where people are at the center of all our initiatives. It would be highly counterintuitive to ask a piece of software to crank out a 300-word text about the very essence of self-care.
But do I sometimes use it to find a synonym or that word that’s been on the tip of my tongue for half an hour, damn it? Yes, absolutely. Do I sometimes ask ChatGPT to correct something? Of course! I’ve always been better at math rules than grammar rules—what can I say! (Our lovely Roxane does a damn good job too, but having a virtual dictionary on hand is always helpful.)
I think AI has massive, undeniable potential across a wide range of fields, like medicine and science. A friend asked ChatGPT to create a summary of his medical history using PDF files, photos of reports, scans, handwritten prescriptions, and even a report in Czech from abroad, to better answer his doctors’ questions. Insane, right? Imagine if government and medical paperwork suddenly became that easy to consult.
Another friend asked ChatGPT for tips to stay more present with her kids, in a world where we’re conditioned to constantly perform. The results were incredibly relevant—almost unsettlingly so.
On the other hand, at Flambette, we’re strong advocates of Art in all its forms, which is why we collaborate with various artists. And this is where things get tricky. The biggest issue with AI today—aside from how easy it makes fraud—is around imagery and copyright. An artist spends years developing an illustrative style, only for a robot to recreate it in seconds, for the modest price of nothing—except a phenomenal amount of energy.
Does the artwork hold the same value? Of course not! Is it frustrating for artists? Obviously! Is it fun to see your cat illustrated like a comic book character? Heck yes! So, serious questions need to be asked about the limits of AI use. And this is just the beginning.
At Flambette, we see and use artificial intelligence as an ally—for brainstorming, analyzing, summarizing, and problem-solving. But it's far from being at the core of our business, if that reassures you.
That’s also why it’s not a robot answering you in our chat (unless you have a VERY URGENT problem at 3 a.m.—a robot will simply tell you that one of us will get back to you as soon as possible). Personalized and human service is basically our top priority (that and good coffee). We believe a typo is far less unpleasant than chatting with a machine that has zero empathy.
Online shopping makes life easier in so many ways, but it’s important to us that you know we’re never far away. And that’s not about to change.
What about you—what do you think? Come chat with us if you feel like it; one of us will definitely reply (though maybe not at 3 a.m.!) Or if you’re near our workshop, feel free to drop by! We’d love to chat!
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P.S. This article was corrected by ChatGPT. Because we’re human—and proud of it.