02/07/2026
To AI or Not to AI. Is that really the question?
A comment appeared in one of my favorite writing communities, The Write Practice, about the use of AI. As usual there were the ravers and the ranters. Here was my response:
AI is a tool, and I will continue to see it that way. Like any tool it can be used thoughtfully and with skill, or bluntly with little skill. Think of a chainsaw that cleanly cuts a dead branch off a tree, or a dull, rusty saw that snags, rips, and might injure us.
AI generated text is only as poor as the prompts it is given, and even if you train it to your own voice and writing cadence you are the final arbiter of that writing. I use it to save time by brainstorming ideas, finding word and phrasing alternatives, and to clean up my very typo-filled fast typing with instructions to not change any words. When I read my own words in a well-formatted, clean copy, I can move into editing brain and really hone my work.
But here’s a caveat: when I see my work so beautifully cleaned up, it’s seductive. It’s easy to get lazy and accept it the way it is. I have to be rigorous in editing to be sure it’s what I really want to say. Multiply that by 100-fold if you let AI choose words or phrases for you and you let it paraphrase what you give it.
Like I say. It’s a tool. It’s up to us to keep it sharp and oiled, and to learn how to use it. This was 100% human written.
