AI - What do we gain, what do we give away?: A pratical and critical guide to living and working with artificial intelligence

AI: What Do We Gain, What Do We Give Away? is neither a celebration of artificial intelligence nor a warning to stay away from it. Instead, author, journalist and publisher Stefaan Van Laere takes a practical and critical look at what AI can already do for us, where it genuinely makes life and work easier, and at what point convenience may start costing us more control than we realise.

From writing, research, planning and learning to work, education, privacy, creativity and the rise of digital assistants and robots, this book starts from situations people encounter in everyday life. Van Laere shows how AI can become an extraordinarily useful tool while giving equal attention to its weaknesses: convincing errors, bias, privacy concerns, questions of authorship and responsibility, changing jobs and the growing temptation to outsource not only tasks but parts of our thinking.

His perspective is deliberately personal and practical. As a writer, journalist and independent publisher, Van Laere uses AI on a daily basis for research, editing, translation, planning, image work, publishing and the organisation of multiple projects. That experience has made him enthusiastic about what the technology can achieve, but equally aware of its limitations.

This is therefore not a technical manual for one particular chatbot, nor a catalogue of applications that may be outdated within a year. It is a guide to understanding how to work intelligently with a technology that is rapidly becoming part of ordinary life.

Written in an accessible and personal style, the book ranges from simple applications anyone can try immediately to larger questions about work, education, privacy, creativity and the future relationship between humans and machines.

The final section turns theory into practice, including one hundred concrete ways to use AI in everyday and professional life.

AI: What Do We Gain, What Do We Give Away? is for curious users, sceptics and people who already use AI but want to understand it better. The central message is simple: do not believe blindly, do not fear blindly, and above all do not give away your own judgement.

About the Author

Stefaan Van Laere, born in 1963, is a Belgian author, journalist and publisher with more than three decades of experience in print and digital media.

Over the course of his career he has written for numerous newspapers, magazines and online publications in Belgium and abroad. He also served for several years as editor-in-chief of Seniorennet.be, one of Belgium's best-known online platforms aimed at an older readership, and has closely followed the transformation of journalism from print to digital publishing throughout his professional life.

Today he runs Uitgeverij Partizaan, an independent publishing house that publishes fiction and non-fiction by a growing range of authors in print and digital formats. More information about the publishing house and its catalogue can be found at www.partizaan.be.

Van Laere is also a contributor to Boomager.be, a Flemish platform for active people aged 55 and over, and more broadly for readers who remain curious, socially engaged and interested in contemporary life. Boomager covers society, culture, health, relationships, travel, technology, leisure and ageing without reducing its audience to the traditional stereotype of “senior citizens”.

His professional life has spanned several technological revolutions. Van Laere wrote his first texts on a mechanical typewriter and later experienced the transition to personal computers, the internet, digital photography, online journalism, e-books and artificial intelligence. Today he works with AI on a daily basis for research, editorial work, final editing, translation, planning, photography, image processing, layout and publishing.

His books are increasingly reaching an international readership. Titles by Stefaan Van Laere have appeared or are being published in Dutch, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Polish, with further language editions planned.

In AI: What Do We Gain, What Do We Give Away?, he brings together his experience as a writer, journalist, publisher and intensive AI user. He does not approach artificial intelligence as a computer scientist explaining algorithms, but as someone who wants to know what this technology actually does to our work, creativity and everyday lives — and which decisions we should continue to keep in our own hands.