How AI challenged me to improve my writing skills

"Hey bud, I can do that writing for you." No, thanks!

Like you, I have a love/hate relationship with AI.

I love how AI helps with research and answering my questions. I hate the idea that it can do my writing for me.

Not because I might become insignificant or that AI might replace me.

No, I hate that AI is always there on my left shoulder, saying, “Hey bud, why won’t you let me do that writing for you?”

Well, bud, it’s because I NEED to write, otherwise I become a lazy, unstimulated, and anxious person.

AI got everyone writing again

Everyone’s writing again: Prompts, articles, emails, captions, scripts.

But writing is not the same as pre-ChatGPT. It’s evolving.

One of my friends, who’s a process operator at a large dairy company, told me he started writing a book. In his day job, he manages and monitors industrial operations, and in his free time, he writes about history and evolution.

For the longest time, he wanted to write about those topics, but he never knew how to start. It wasn’t a matter of time because we can always make time for the things that matter to us.

He just didn’t look at himself as a writer. But AI has given many people the confidence to write well.

Because let’s face it, AI is not bad at writing.

And that’s a good thing. Before AI, the majority of writing was just unbearable. People wrote without any regard for language, grammar, and punctuation.

Now, that’s history.

The problem is that people’s writing is too bland. Too much AI.

We need to stop that.

The evolution of writing skills

The good thing is that people are writing again. The bad thing is that all writing now looks the same.

When I read an email or an article that’s written by AI, I can instantly tell. And I bet you can too. It’s not that hard.

And it’s not about the em dashes.

Even when people go through a lot of effort to mask the fact that AI wrote something for them, you can still tell. So stop trying!

Instead, work on your writing skills and use AI to fill in the gaps.

How AI is improving my writing

Here’s how I use AI.

I still rely on my brain and creativity to come up with ideas. Whether I write an email, article, or book, the idea must come from me.

I challenge myself to come up with the message behind my writing by myself. I stopped asking AI to give me article topics because I know that a million others are doing the same thing at the same time.

So don’t even bother unless you want to sound like everyone else.

Look inside yourself for ideas. And before you say I don’t know what to write about, I’m going to stop you right there.

Everyone has a very rich imagination. The reality is that we’ve learned to turn off our imagination and to comply. We’re taught to fit in and to do what others are doing.

That’s what AI is also doing. It gives you the ideas that it’s giving everyone else.

So stop it.

Rely on good old-fashioned writing skills when it comes to communicating your ideas. Then, as you start writing, use AI as an assistant.

• Thinking of a quote you can’t remember? Ask AI.

• Are you stuck at a section where you have to explain a complex topic? Ask AI.

• Do you need to state historical facts and figures? You get the idea.

I no longer worry about the annoying things of writing. The things that held me back in the past. Sometimes I wanted to write pieces that required historical context, and I would let them sit in my drafts folder.

Now, I just get going and let AI fill in the gaps of my knowledge.

That’s the main way AI has improved my writing. It removes friction.

But AI has also improved my creative thinking because I’m also seeing it as competition.

I want to out-human AI writing.

My goal is to do my own writing because with every piece I write, my mind gets a little bit sharper.

So AI is not only my partner, it’s also my competitor.

It’s a whole new way of creating, and I've finally figured out how to work with AI.

Writing is fun. Never let anything take that away from you.

Happy writing.