Everyone keeps saying the same thing:
“AI is coming for our jobs.”
“AI will replace software engineers.”
“AI will replace writers.”
“AI will replace graphic designers.”
Being an engineer and a writer, I had zero intention of testing my own skills against AI.
(Mostly because I might win… for now. Long term? Let’s not open that file today.)
But I do know one thing with absolute certainty: I am not a graphic designer.
At least, that’s what my past book covers — created with a free Canva subscription and unlimited confidence — have clearly demonstrated.
So I thought instead of risking my ego in writing or engineering… why not test AI in an area where I have nothing to lose?
Graphic design.
Specifically — book cover design.
Also, my Instagram feed has been aggressively reminding me that “If you’re not using AI tools, you’re already behind.”
Naturally, this felt like a personal attack. So I decided to respond the only way an engineer would by conducting a controlled experiment.
What followed was enlightening, and contradicting to major claims. But don’t take my word for it – I am sharing the prompts and the output images.
You be the judge.
The Origin Story (How This Mess Started)
It was December 2025.
Christmas lights were glowing. Happiness was in the air. People were dusting off their 2025 resolutions… so they could copy-paste them into 2026.
You know the routine:
• Eat healthy
• Wake up early
• Stop procrastinating
• Become a new person by January 3rd
Meanwhile, a half-written manuscript of my first humor writing had been quietly collecting dust in some sector of my laptop harddisk. And unfortunately, so had my guilt.
At some point, the guilt became heavier than the file size.
So instead of failing my writing resolution again, I decided to try something radical.
I opened my laptop. Read a couple of motivational books. Listened to “Stop Procrastinating” podcasts. Had a serious internal discussion with my inner guilt.
And then something strange happened.
I started writing.
I wrote during the day. I wrote during the night. I wrote during every quiet moment in between.
Until suddenly — almost suspiciously — I realized:
I had written an entire book.
25+ chapters. A full humor manuscript. A year… somewhat redeemed.
Naturally, I did what any responsible author would do.
I went straight to LinkedIn and WhatsApp and began strategic self-promotion.
“Hey everyone, my book is ready!” How to Be Your Dog’s Personal Assistant
A few friends even asked to be notified when it launches.
So I spent the first week of January mentally preparing my New York Times Bestseller acceptance speech.
Then Reality Arrived
Someone messaged me:
“Congrats! Where’s the book cover?”
Wait.
What?
Book cover?
Did I forget to upload the book cover?
Yes.
Yes, I did.
Well… not exactly.
By the time I finished the manuscript, I was excited, overwhelmed, and completely exhausted. There was no time left to think about something as “minor” as a proper book cover.
And time was literally running out.
New Year’s fireworks were about to begin in Sydney. If I missed that moment, my brain had already decided:
The entire year would count as wasted.
(This logic has no scientific basis, but it is emotionally very convincing.)
I had seen this movie before.
Three years ago, when I wrote Ask It Right, I ran into the exact same situation, where I missed the new year declaration due to lack of a good book cover.
So this time, I decided to use my own technique Constraint Questioning (from my book – Ask It Right).
I asked myself:
“Given that I have only a couple of hours left, how can I create a book cover right now so I can announce it?”
And my technique of asking right questions works every single time.
The answer came instantly.
“Use AI, idiot.”
Elegant. Efficient. Slightly insulting.
But effective.
So I did exactly that.
And after a few tweaks, here’s what my first AI-generated book cover looked like:
Like every other New Year resolution, January started with high enthusiasm and questionable sustainability.
My first editor was reviewing the book. (Yes, there was a second editor too… but let’s not reveal all strategies in one post.)
And I was busy conducting my AI experiment.
Round 1: The Obvious Approach
I did what most of us would do.
I gave a simple prompt:
“I want you to act as an expert book cover designer and I want you to design a book cover for my book “How to be your dog’s personal assistant’ Subtitle A Hilarious guide to surviving your dog’s demands. Make me a humorous, eye catching and best selling book cover”
And tested it across multiple tools:
- Claude
2. Google Gemini
Gemini was surprisingly generous—even on the free plan, it delivered three different cover designs from a single prompt.
3. Grok
4. Microsoft CoPilot
5. ChatGPT
And finally everyone’s favourite ChatGPT generated image.
Question Time:
Now, an honest question:
Which one of the above covers do you like?
My answer?
None.
Round 2: Enter “Prompt Engineering”
At this point, I went back to my book Ask It Right and took inspiration from another technique – Alternative Exploring Questions technique.
So I asked:
“What other ways can I get better results from AI?”
The answer came back:
Prompt Engineering.
Now let’s be honest.
Two years ago, “prompt engineering” was not a thing. And while I like learning new skills…
I did not have the time (or emotional strength) to enroll in a MIT course mid-January.
So I went back to my favorite fallback:
Constraint Questioning.
“Given that I have zero expertise in prompt engineering, how can I still generate a great prompt?”
And once again…
My technique never disappoints me.
The answer came instantly:
“Use AI, idiot.”
At this point, I was impressed.
Use AI… to generate prompts… for AI.
I don’t know about you, but in that moment, I felt like I had unlocked Elon Musk-level thinking.
(Confidence was high. Accuracy… still under evaluation.)
So, powered by this breakthrough, I went to Grok and asked:
“Give me a prompt that can generate a best-selling book cover for my book How to Be Your Dog’s Personal Assistant.”
And here’s what I got:
“Create a vibrant, eye-catching, best-selling non-fiction book cover for the title ‘How to Be Your Dog’s Personal Assistant’.
Style: modern, humorous, and premium pet-lifestyle aesthetic — clean, high-contrast, commercial design that looks like a New York Times bestseller.
Main visual: A happy, adorable golden retriever or mixed-breed dog sitting confidently on a luxurious modern armchair like a boss, wearing a tiny elegant bow tie. In front of the dog, a cheerful young man (mid-30s, casual but neat clothing) is kneeling attentively, holding a silver tray with dog treats, a notepad, and a tiny coffee cup, looking up at the dog with a proud smile. The dog is looking straight at the viewer with a playful, slightly smug expression.
Composition: The dog and assistant occupy the central and right side of the cover. Soft warm lighting, bright cheerful color palette with rich teal, warm orange accents, and creamy whites. Clean white or very light gradient background so text pops.
Text placement (integrate elegantly in the design):
* Large bold modern sans-serif title at the top: ‘How to Be Your Dog’s Personal Assistant’ in deep navy and teal.
* Small elegant subtitle underneath: ‘A Humorous Guide to Serving Your Four-Legged CEO’
* Author name space at the bottom in clean font.
Professional book cover quality, sharp details, 3D depth, slight cinematic lighting, highly commercial and giftable look, trending on Amazon, 2:3 vertical ratio, 300 dpi quality –ar 2:3 –stylize 250 –v 6″
Results Time
Clearly, the AI-generated prompt performed far better than my original one.
But technically… it was me who asked AI to generate that prompt.
So I would like to officially claim the title of grandfather of the prompt.
Anyway, let’s move to the results of this highly sophisticated, 20-years-of-scientific-experience-driven experiment.
(At this point, I needed to convince myself my time was being fruitfully wasted, if not optimally used.)
The Outputs
- Claude
I know Claude fans won’t like this…but I genuinely couldn’t tell if Claude was underperforming, or simply choosing not to perform well on the free plan.
2. Google Gemini
Honestly, I liked this one. It made it to my final shortlist.
3. Grok
Ironically, Grok gave me the prompt…but couldn’t quite live up to it in execution.
4. Microsoft Co-Pilot
This one surprised me.
Strong output, and let’s just say… the cover had a very confident-looking protagonist. Definitely another finalist.
5. ChatGPT
Our beloved ChatGPT did not disappoint.
Solid output.
But in this round, it landed in the runner-up category behind Gemini and Copilot.
Question Time
Would you publish any of these covers?
My answer?
Maybe yes.
But then the perfectionist in me said:
“These are good… but you’ll never know what a human designer could have done.”
And that’s where the internal conflict began.
One part of me was happy: “Look at the money you just saved.”
The other part was louder: “Don’t be cheap. Get a professional.”
And eventually…
The second voice won.
So I did what every rational, financially cautious person does in such moments:
I went to Fiverr… and hired a designer.
Human vs AI — The Final Chapter
Before I begin, a quick disclaimer:
I didn’t hire the most expensive Fiverr designer. But I did hire a Level 2 professional and paid her fairly for the job.
I shared clear requirements (not prompts), and she got to work.
A week later, she came back with two initial designs.
Here they are.
👉 Question: What do you think of them?
For me, the second design felt promising… but incomplete.
So I requested a revision:
“Can we add a human element and make it more humorous and eye-catching?”
She agreed.
Round 2 — Human Output
She delivered the revised version.
And honestly… it was good, but not great.
Now, technically, I could have gone for another revision.
But my human compassion kicked in.
So I accepted the delivery.
No negotiation. No iteration. Just… gratitude.
And Then AI Entered Again
This is where things got interesting.
With AI, there is:
- No hesitation
- No limit on revisions (provided you have credits remaining!)
- No guilt (We will ignore the melting glaciers in Antarctica for now.)
So I took the designer’s image and gave it back to AI.
“Make selective changes.”
Boom.
AI executed instantly.
- Remove the human
- Change the color of the chair
- Add a human hand offering biscuit
Done.
No back-and-forth. No waiting a week.
So… Who Won?
Did AI win?
Not really.
Human creativity, imagination, and experience were clearly superior.
Did the human win completely?
Also no.
Getting to perfection required multiple iterations. And that’s where AI was incredibly efficient.
My Take
AI won’t replace humans. Humans won’t eliminate AI.
But together?
They become dangerously effective.
Your Turn
I’d genuinely love your thoughts:
Who did better — AI, Human, or the combination?
Drop your views in the comments.
The Book (Finally…)
The good news:
The book is finally ready.
After two editors reviewed it… and I confidently overruled both of them.
Now I Need Your Help
Here are my top 3 cover options: A, B, and C.
Which one should I go with?
I haven’t published yet, so your vote actually matters.
Just type A, B, or C in the comments and help me decide.
The most voted cover wins. And the voters win a free trip to Bali.
Sponsored by Dog Corp© . Funding currently under review. Dog is chewing the budget.
Pre-Order (Your Dog Has Approved This Message)
If you enjoyed this even a little…
you’ll enjoy the book a lot more.
It goes live on 26th April. Pre-order here: (Link)
Amazon prints each copy individually, on demand, one at a time.
Which means the queue is real.
So technically… the earlier you order, the sooner your dog finds out what you’ve been saying about them. 😄
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