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When the Brooms Won’t Stop: AI, Automation, and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has been on my mind a lot lately—especially as I build more and more AI automation into my work and online life.

For those of you who have not heard the story—or perhaps would like a refresher—it goes like this.

A quick refresher: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

A young apprentice works for a powerful sorcerer. The sorcerer can do incredible things with a few words and a wave of his hand, including using magic to make chores easier.

The apprentice, meanwhile, is stuck hauling buckets of water. Over and over. Up and down the stairs.

One day, the sorcerer leaves, and the apprentice is left alone with the magic.

Tired of carrying water, he decides to try a spell he’s seen the sorcerer use. He enchants a broom to carry the buckets for him.

At first, it’s wonderful.

The broom marches back and forth, doing the work while the apprentice relaxes. He’s found the shortcut. He’s beaten the system.

But there’s a problem: the broom doesn’t know when to stop.

The water keeps coming.
The room begins to flood.
The apprentice is up to his ankles. Then his knees.

Panicked, he tries to stop the broom by chopping it into pieces with an axe.

Each broken piece turns into another broom.

Now dozens of brooms are hauling water, all marching in perfect rhythm, all faithfully following the last instruction they were given. The room is flooding. The apprentice is in over his head—literally—and he has absolutely no idea how to stop what he started.

By the time the sorcerer returns, the place is a disaster. With one gesture, he stops the chaos and restores order. The apprentice is safe, but humbled.

The lesson?

Power without wisdom. Tools without boundaries. A blessing that turns into a flood when you’re not paying attention.

My own enchanted brooms: AI on autopilot

Lately, my “brooms” have been AI assistants.

Not the kind you ask random questions to—the kind that quietly do things for you in the background. Automatically. Without supervision.

I built one to respond to social media comments.
Another to handle email inquiries.
Another to reply to Google reviews.

If you run an online business or manage a busy inbox, you probably know the appeal:

“Why should I spend hours responding to every comment when I could just let AI help?”

At first, it felt brilliant.
The AI was good. Really good. It sounded like me. It knew the context. It could handle most questions without me even looking.

So I set it up and walked away.

The broom started marching.

The creeping realization

It wasn’t a disaster. Not a full-on flood.

It was quieter than that. More unsettling.

I started seeing conversations I wasn’t having:

  • Comments replied to on platforms I hadn’t checked in days

  • Email threads I didn’t remember starting

  • Responses to reviews I hadn’t read yet

All in my voice.
All under my name.
All perfectly… fine.

That was the strange part. They weren’t wrong. They were helpful, even friendly. They sounded like something I might say.

But I hadn’t said them.

The broom was marching back and forth, doing exactly what I’d told it to do. And I was standing there, realizing I had no idea how many buckets it had carried—or where all that water was going.

When helpful becomes haunting

Here’s what bothered me most:

It wasn’t that the AI was doing a bad job.
It was that I’d lost track of where my voice was going.

Conversations were happening in my name that I wasn’t part of. Relationships were being built—or potentially damaged—without my knowledge. People thought they were talking to me, but they were talking to a broom I’d enchanted weeks ago and then forgotten about.

And the really unsettling part?

I couldn’t even remember all the places I’d set it up.

  • Was it responding to Facebook comments? Yes, I think so.

  • Instagram DMs? Maybe?

  • That business email account I don’t check very often? Probably?

The broom had been given instructions. And it was following them. Faithfully. Tirelessly.

While I was busy doing other things, assuming it was all working out just fine.

The difference between a tool and a broom

When you use a hammer, you know exactly when you’re swinging it.

When you write an email yourself, you know what you said and who you said it to.

But AI automation is different:

  • It keeps working when you walk away.

  • It scales without you noticing.

  • It multiplies your voice across platforms you might not even be monitoring.

And that’s both the magic and the danger of AI assistants.

The apprentice didn’t enchant the broom to cause chaos. He enchanted it to help.

To make life easier.
To handle the tedious work so he could focus on more important things.

That’s exactly why we build tools like:

  • Automated email responders

  • Chatbots for customer questions

  • Auto-replies on social media

  • AI systems handling reviews and FAQs

But somewhere between “this will save me time” and “I haven’t thought about this in weeks,” we lose sight of what the broom is actually doing.

What happens when we’re not in the room

Here’s the thing about AI assistants:

They don’t have wisdom. They have instructions.

They don’t know when a response needs a personal touch.
They don’t sense when someone needs a human, not a helpful algorithm.
They can’t tell the difference between a routine question and a moment that really matters.

They just keep marching.

A customer writes in with a complaint. The AI responds—polite, efficient, helpful.
But did they need empathy? An apology that came from an actual person who cares?

A potential client asks a question. The AI answers—clear, accurate, informative.
But did they need to hear my story? The personal connection that turns a transaction into a relationship?

Someone leaves a review. The AI thanks them—professional, timely, appropriate.
But did I miss a chance to build loyalty? To turn a satisfied customer into a raving fan?

I don’t know.
Because I wasn’t in the room.

A note about my own AI VA, Jennifer

If you’ve interacted with me online, you may have already “met” Jennifer, my AI virtual assistant.

You can absolutely chat with her:

  • She can answer common questions

  • Help point you to resources

  • Acknowledge messages, comments, or reviews quickly

But here’s the important part:

Jennifer always relates the messages back to me.

Nothing lives in a black box.
She flags conversations.
She summarizes what’s been said.
And I review, respond, or step in personally—especially when something needs real discernment or a human heart behind the words.

So yes, I use AI.
Yes, I let it help with the heavy lifting.

But I’m intentional about staying connected to what’s happening in my name, and I want you to know that if you reach out, you are never just shouting into a void of algorithms.

There is always a real person—me—on the other side.

Questions I’m asking myself (and maybe you can, too)

I’m not saying AI automation is bad.

It isn’t. It’s powerful. It’s helpful. It can genuinely save time and mental energy for things that matter more.

But I am saying this:

We need to stay in the room.

Not for every conversation. Not hovering over every response. But aware. Engaged. Paying attention to where our voice is going and what it’s saying when we’re not there.

Here are the questions I’m asking myself now:

1. Where have I set up automation?
Do I even remember all the places my AI is responding on my behalf?

2. What is it actually saying?
Have I checked recently?
Or did I set it up months ago and assume it’s still working the way I want?

3. Are there places where automation doesn’t belong?
Are there situations that need me, not just my voice?
(Complaints, sensitive topics, long-time clients, faith questions, big decisions.)

4. Am I monitoring what’s happening in my name?
Do I review conversations regularly, or have I truly “set it and forget it”?

5. Would I be okay seeing a weekly transcript of everything my AI said?
If someone showed me every conversation my AI has had this week, would I feel:

  • Confident?

  • Surprised?

  • Uncomfortable?

  • Embarrassed?

Those answers matter.

The lesson from the apprentice

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice learned something important that day: powerful tools require attention.

The magic wasn’t the problem.
The broom wasn’t evil.
The spell worked exactly as designed.

The problem was walking away.
Assuming it would all just work out.
Trusting that “set it and forget it” was good enough.

It wasn’t.

The brooms kept marching. The water kept rising. And by the time he noticed, he’d lost control.

I don’t want that to be my story.

I don’t want to wake up one day and realize I’ve been having conversations I never intended, saying things I didn’t mean, building—or damaging—relationships without even knowing it.

The tools we use are powerful.
The “magic” is real.

But we’re still called to be wise stewards—
not sleepy apprentices letting the brooms run the house.

FAQ: AI, Automation, and Your Online Voice

Q1: What is AI automation for small business?
AI automation for small business means using tools like chatbots, auto-responders, and AI assistants to handle tasks such as customer questions, email replies, and social media comments. Done well, it saves time and helps you serve people more consistently.

Q2: Is it safe to let AI respond to my customers?
It can be safe if you set clear guidelines, review responses regularly, and keep a human in the loop. The real risk comes when you “set it and forget it” and have no idea what’s being said in your name.

Q3: How often should I review my AI assistants and automations?
A good starting point is to review your AI conversations weekly, then adjust as needed. Any time you change your offers, pricing, policies, or brand voice, you should update and re-check your AI settings.

Q4: What tasks are good candidates for AI automation?
Simple, repetitive tasks are best: FAQs, basic directions, booking links, store hours, and polite acknowledgements. Anything that involves emotion, conflict, or major decisions is usually better handled by a real person.

Q5: When should I step in and respond personally instead of using AI?
Step in personally for complaints, sensitive issues, long-time clients, pastoral or faith-related questions, and any situation where empathy and discernment are needed. AI can start the conversation, but real relationships still need real people.

Jodimorel

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