AI Is Making It Easier To Write And I Don’t Like It

I was staring at my screen thinking “Am I becoming stupid?”

I had just written a very rough first draft. It was more like a bunch of notes semi-related to a topic. And I couldn’t work out what to do with it. The ideas were all over the place. So I copied it into Chat GPT and told it to create an essay from my notes.

But as I watched it come up with my essay, I started to question what I was doing.

I have no issue using AI to help make writing better.

But one of the main reasons I write is to clear up my thinking.

I had a bunch of random semi-related ideas on paper but more significantly, in my head. The process of working out what I wanted to say clears it up in my head.

Having the essay given to me doesn’t give me the same result, even if the output is of better quality and done quickly.

Which would be ok if all I cared about was the outcome.

But it’s the struggle with the ideas that makes me smarter and helps me discover new ideas. If I’m going to use AI to improve my writing, it needs to be once I’ve wrestled with the idea and know roughly what I want to say.

The problem is that it is so easy to use AI and not have to go through the mental struggle.

Using AI is like a forklift truck. If I used it in the gym, I could pick up much more weight with almost no effort. But I wouldn’t get stronger. And that’s not to say I never want to use a forklift truck. If I were ever working in a factory, I would use it at every opportunity.

I still think AI is a useful tool and I still want to use it. I want to clear up grammar issues or suggest potential adjustments to make it clearer for the reader.

But I want to make sure AI is not like a forklift truck in the gym.