A couple weeks ago, Axios national energy correspondent Amy Harder guest-authored Finish Line with a thoughtful column on how AI has — and hasn't — changed her life as a journalist and a human.

• We asked readers to tell us how they've found AI most useful, either in their jobs or in their lives. We heard from people across the country and in a variety of industries.

Why it matters: AI is rapidly moving into daily life — and we can all benefit from asking each other questions and learning new ways to use these tools.

• Here's how some readers are harnessing AI:

📻 "I'm a DJ on an oldies/retro radio station in the N.Y. radio market. I use AI as a tool to help me develop shows, develop playlists, do research on artists and songs, and create themed music hours. … When I lead with my input, it brings my thinking to a higher level." —Lonny Strum, Manalapan, N.J., radio DJ

🧸 "When my 7-year-old daughter came up with her first business idea ('What if kids could take all their stuffies wherever they go by turning them into trading cards?!'), I badly wanted to bring it to life to support the creative thinking. But having never written a line of code in my life — and with no idea how sites like Shopify work — it seemed like a long shot."

• "Well, after about two months of me and her sitting side-by-side and after feeding Chat GPT dozens of different prompts, we had built our own "Stuffie Squad Card Generator" app and a custom Shopify site. Despite other drawbacks, AI makes entrepreneurship so much more accessible than it was when I was growing up. which excites me for my kids." —Kevin Mason, Austin, private equity investor

⛰️ "I've found AI useful in planning a hiking vacation. To track down the best hikes in each region is time-consuming. ChatGPT was able to supply me with a list of the best hikes in France. As I dug into those hikes, I asked ChatGPT to refine the list to those that will be snow-free by May, and to create an interactive map showing the closest towns and a blurb on each hike." —Kim Katz, Averill Park, N.Y., senior applications analyst

🎸 "Recently, I bought a new electric guitar, a rare made-in-Japan Fender Telecaster. The pickups —electromagnetic devices used to 'pick up' the vibrations from the strings and send them to the amplifier — that were in it were awful."

• "I started by telling Copilot about the guitar and gave it an example of the pickups I like most. It asked back some very good questions about expectations, musical genres and certain preferences. In the end, it made a recommendation that I'd never heard of, but has worked out very well." —Ed Seith, Marana, Ariz., IT manager

📚 "[A]s a CPA, I have found AI very useful in researching the tax code and identifying and explaining various code sections when faced with situations and/or questions from my clients." —Phil Fazio, Normal, Ill., certified public accountant

🎄 "I was having six people for Christmas dinner. Admittedly, I'm not confident in putting together dinners, though I do love entertaining. I asked AI to create a Christmas dinner around pork tenderloin with Béarnaise sauce that would be simple but elegant. AI offered several options and asked questions, which I answered. I ended up with a very nice Christmas dinner, a timeline for pulling it all together and six people who were very happy with what was served." —Ellen G. Takatori, Denver, N.C., retired

We want to keep this conversation going! So now we're flipping the question: Tell us what you don't use AI for and why. Is it because humans do that task better or because it's just not something you want to ask a machine to do?

• Send your thoughts, along with your name, hometown and job title, to [email protected], and we'll feature some of your responses in a future edition.

A gorgeous sunset at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, Ore., on Thursday — captured by reader Brian MacDonald.