People usually arrive here because they’re deciding if I’m the right fit for their project, workshop or training.
The comments below come from writers, professionals and community learners who wanted practical help using AI well — or simply needed someone to make technology clearer, calmer and more useful.
One-to-One Support and Practical Help
Sometimes people don’t need a workshop — they need someone who can step in, untangle a problem and help them move forward with confidence.
Roger G. McDonald — published writer and poet (December 2025)
“Half an hour with Annie not only retrieved Chat’s exhaustive database, but taught me how to access, organise and deploy it as a useful tool in future. While she was at it, she helped me simplify my desktop and rationalise a bulging and unruly applications dock.”
“I might be an ancient Luddite, but with Annie Smit at my side, I have an entrée to sector-leading expertise and a teaching resource to boot.”
Roger is a published Australian writer who wanted to use AI as a practical tool in his ongoing literary work. (Full case study at the end of this page.)
This is the kind of thing Roger writes, without the assistance of AI…
“I flit between dozens of projects, landing briefly and collecting or depositing a few words. … But then the deadly blooms of distraction, procrastination and caprice shimmy their floral frocks and lure me to another thought or book or link.”
Workshops and Training
Lauren Croucher (February 2026)
Annie’s ‘Introduction to AI for Everyone’ workshop was a delight. She made complex ideas feel accessible, used practical examples throughout and welcomed questions. The take-home booklet means I can keep practising at my own pace. Highly recommended for anyone wanting a grounded, informative start to their AI journey.
Louise and John Barselaar (March 2026)
We have been hearing a lot about AI – both good and bad – but one thing is for sure: it is here to stay. So, we decided that it was about time we found out a bit more. Annie’s beginner-friendly AI workshop sounded like a great starting point. The course provided us with very practical examples of how AI can be used in everyday life.
We were amazed at how easy it is to do things, such as: create a picture and then animate it; write an engaging story from a few random elements ( a blue dog in Venice) and decipher handwritten notes and turn them into a digitised and formatted piece of work – even when some of the words are partly obscured. Annie explained everything clearly and informatively, and we now feel much more comfortable about dipping our toes in the AI water.
We still find some of the implications of AI rather scary (what is the future for creatives, for example?) but we can also see how we can apply it to simplify a lot of things in our lives – digitising that mountain of recipe clippings is definitely on the to-do list.
If you are just starting out on your AI journey, Annie’s workshop is highly recommended.
Editing, Writing and Communication Work
Krisha Hunt (2022) – Psychosocial Risk Management | Psychological Health & Safety | Workplace Mental Health | Consulting – via LinkedIn
Annie is great to work with and a highly professional report writer. She focuses on understanding client needs and is exceptionally open to learning the often nuanced demands of different projects. She crafts meaningful outputs, simplifying complex ideas into clear, practical takeaways.
Annie is also timely, flexible, easy to communicate with and, importantly, a warm and friendly person.
Case history: Roger G McDonald, published writer and poet
‘I’m in my early 70s but still active as a professional writer, both for myself and for others. Even though I came to technology in the 1980s, my first consideration has always been for the creative component of any message. The means of communicating the message—the technology—were always secondary.
‘Rather like the internal combustion engine, I can easily grasp the principles behind IT and AI, though I have no understanding of how they work in practice. In other words, I have no difficulty driving a car, but don’t ask me to look under the bonnet.
‘Perhaps it’s symptomatic of my age, but I’ve always felt I was only just connected to information technology. As it has developed, my grasp has grown ever more tenuous. Now that AI has exploded into almost every aspect of human life, I feel increasingly detached from IT and AI, even though I recognise their power and extraordinary functionality.
‘Like so many people, I have recently dabbled with AI, at first out of a writer’s curiosity, and lately as a potential tool in my continuing literary career.
‘My experiments have left me jaw-droppingly astounded at the breadth, depth, and pace of its capabilities. But they have also left me teetering on the brink of confusion and frustration.
‘I challenged Chat GPT to research Australian and international publishers. I was hoping to compile a database of contacts to whom I could submit one of my book manuscripts. Chat’s instant response was—sensibly—to ask for more detail in the brief. As I enlarged the brief, it immediately responded with suggestions and options. They would not only help refine the task but would tighten my potential campaign and improve my chances of success.
‘It then asked for a little time to assemble the data. And there my troubles began. I waited . . . and waited. Ignorance and cynicism jousted in the background. My online searches produced nothing. Was this another dud?
‘Or, more likely, was I an aged, blind ferret trudging through an uninhabited rabbit warren?
‘There was only one way to go: AI legend, Annie Smit.
‘Half an hour with Annie not only retrieved Chat’s exhaustive database, but taught me how to access, organise and deploy it as a useful tool in future. While she was at it, she helped me simplify my desktop and rationalise a bulging and unruly applications dock.
‘I might be an ancient Luddite, but with Annie Smit at my side, I have an entrée to sector-leading expertise and a teaching resource to boot. So do millions of others in my age group and situation.’
If you’re unsure where to start, feel free to contact me for a short conversation. Most projects begin with a simple question.
Ascension Editing 