This is my current thinking on the role of AI in writing. My thoughts will likely evolve over time, but for now, this is where I’ve landed.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, not so much about the article, though those are welcome, but about this perspective on AI’s role in the writing endeavor.
NOTE: For those not religiously inclined, don’t worry. This article is not overly religious. Johnny Cash’s later-in-life conversion is mentioned at the beginning to establish context, and a Bible verse is quoted at the end, but this is not a religiously focused article. It is about AI’s role in writing.
“Use AI, but never let it replace you or your voice”.
That sums it up for me. I’ve never been a writer. I’ve written proposals, policies, and procedures. I’ve only assembled facts to inform and guide people. But I can see how AI could a good tool for gathering and organizing information.
But when it’s me that turns that research into a finished document then I am the author. Even if I should lift some sentences from the “machine”.
Should it be given credit for its assistance? IMO, no. It’s a tool like a printer or a copy machine. When other people helped me with a project I made sure my superiors knew what they had done. But the only reason I would credit an AI would be to help prove its worth so I could justify the cost to use it on other projects, etc.
AI can mimic tone and style, but it lacks the lived experiences that shape and deepen your writing. It assembles words based on probability, not reality…
Perfect.
So much of your article resonated with me, but this part in particular jumped out. I am as excited as anyone about the potential benefits and productivity gains, but those ‘lived experiences’ are the things that sit firmly on that person/machine boundary, (hopefully) never to be moved.
Thanks for sharing. I’m not ‘religiously inclined’ as you so eloquently put it but we grow by listening to and learning from those with varying points of view to our own
Let AI make suggestions just like you might circulate a first draft to your family, friends, and colleagues. Let AI suggest errors in your spelling, grammar, and arguments. Let AI suggest big-picture ways your work can be improved.
But never, ever, ever surrender your tone or the fundamental authorship of your work to Ai.
The big win for me in Apple intelligence is “proofread” where it does not change my actual words but edits mostly for punctuation. My first draft is of such there is no comma to be seen.
This article is not overly religious. Johnny Cash’s later-in-life conversion is mentioned at the beginning to establish context, and a Bible verse is quoted at the end, but this is not a religiously focused article. It is about AI’s role in writing.
but we grow by listening to and learning from those with varying points of view to our own 