Stripe’s CEO says he loves asking AI questions — but it falls short in another area

Stripe’s CEO, Patrick Collison, loves using AI to ask factual questions — just don’t ask him to let it write for him.

In a conversation with Cursor’s CEO, Michael Truell, which was uploaded to Cursor’s YouTube channel on Tuesday, Collison said he relies on AI tools like xAI’s Grok to answer questions while reading.

The CEO of the payments platform said he uses the tools “mainly for answering factual or empirical questions.”

“I find them terrific for that,” he added.

Collison said he uses Grok in voice mode, letting it run in the background while he reads so he can ask questions out loud. “The answers are very helpful,” he added.

But when it comes to writing, Collison draws the line.

“I wish they were useful for writing,” he said. “But I usually end up dissatisfied with the writing that they produce.”

What bothers him most is the lack of personal flair, even when he tries prompting the AI not to sound generic.

“My personal style differs from the personal style, so to speak, of the models,” he said. “In some self-centered way, when I write, I want to use my personal style.”

His comments reflect a view held by some tech leaders: AI may be great for research and brainstorming, but when it comes to voice and tone, human creativity still wins.

LinkedIn’s chief operations officer, Dan Shapero, told Business Insider in April that while he turns to AI chatbots for tips on writing and presenting, he doesn’t use LinkedIn’s AI summary feature to write his own profile — he has lots of practice writing in first person.

Collision and Stripe did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

How CEOs are using AI

Tech CEOs have been vocal about how they weave AI into their daily lives.

Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, said he uses Copilot to summarize his Outlook and Teams messages. He uses at least 10 custom agents from Copilot Studio to help with meeting prep and research, he said during a Bloomberg interview published in May.

He also uploads podcast transcripts to the Copilot app on his phone so he can discuss the content with a voice assistant during his commute.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he used AI “constantly” after welcoming his first child in February.

“Clearly, people have been able to take care of babies without ChatGPT for a long time,” Altman said in an OpenAI podcast interview published last month. “I don’t know how I would have done that.”

Altman said he now mostly uses ChatGPT to research babies’ developmental stages.

Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, takes a more educational approach. He said he uses AI programs to learn new concepts.

“I use it as a tutor every day,” Huang said during the Milken Institute Global Conference in May. “In areas that are fairly new to me, I might say, ‘Start by explaining it to me like I’m a 12-year-old,’ and then work your way up into a doctorate-level over time.”

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