Writing with AI
A tool, not a replacement.
Writing copy used to require a brain, a pencil, and paper. But the allure of technological advancement is hard to resist. Creatives everywhere adapt and adopt new tools. AI can edit, assist, or write the damn thing for you. The depth and breadth of the collaboration are determined by the user.
I vs AI
AI has outpaced me, but it won’t replace me (not for a while). Instead of resisting, I do what organisms do in the struggle for survival: evolve.
The calculator didn’t replace the accountant; it phased out the abacus and created more efficient accountants.
I don’t compete with AI in the same way I don’t compete with my phone—I use it as a tool to enhance my ability, leaving more time to focus on what current AI can’t replace—finding purpose, acting irrationally, and coming up with new ideas.
“AI Will Not Replace You. But the Person Using AI Will.”
I and AI
For the past two years, I’ve been developing rich content by fusing human originality with AI’s efficiency, utilizing the best of what LLMs offer while capturing the human elements that AI can’t (yet?) understand or recreate.
From transcribing with Fathom and researching with Perplexity, to creating customer personas with Claude and editing with Grammarly, I use different AI tools throughout the different writing stages.
Research and Optimization
Search agents expedite and improve my research quality. Note-takers let me focus on listening instead of writing. Research that took weeks now takes hours. Proofreading alone would double the time I dedicate to any article, and I occasionally learn a new word or two.
Ideation
When brainstorming with AI, I act like a teacher and creative director. First, I train the model (prime), then I tell it what to do (prompt), choose what works from an endless stream of options, and iterate to refine the result (polish).
The Kicker
“Talking to AI” clarifies my thinking and makes me a better writer. Communicating with a highly efficient assistant that has a five-year-old’s IQ forces me to consider first principles, break everything down to elemental building blocks, and engineer prompts that can’t be misinterpreted.
“A Problem Well Stated is Half Solved” — Charles Kettering, American inventor
I or AI: We All Do It
If you have a device and internet access, you’ve probably used AI without knowing it. The spectrum ranges from autocorrect and fact-checking to generative AI that completes entire tasks.
The line between “written with AI” and “written by AI” gets blurrier every day. Resistance is futile. Luddites only delay the inevitable. There’s no way back unless someone unplugs something somewhere.
Prohibiting AI won’t work for long. Trying to “catch” AI involvement is a waste of time. There’s already a tool to make AI writing sound “more human,” and the arms race will continue ad infinitum until we accept the inevitable. Asking people not to use AI is like asking builders not to use a hammer.
The prudency police need to give up their fight. People who use AI to make things better shouldn’t be penalized—they should be celebrated.
Instead of launching an AI generation and detection arms race, we could enable AI to replace the redundant and complement the competent.
I + AI: The Hybrid Future
In five years, we won’t be asking whether AI was used in writing in the same way we don’t ask people if they used a computer to send an email.
It won’t be about using AI as much as about how much AI is used and in what way. If written content achieves its intended goal, does it matter what happens in the kitchen?
What matters is the merit, not the method.