I Let AI Do My Writing. Then I Realized What It Was Costing Me.

SAMX10-24-2026, 08:08 AM · 5 min read · 💬 5Log in to subscribe2 subscribers

I’ve been writing since I was a kid.

I’ve had things published, things people have read, and things nobody’s ever seen. Good stuff, bad stuff, personal stuff, business stuff. I’ve spent most of my life trying to put my thoughts into words.

Then along came artificial intelligence.

And I’ll be honest. I didn’t like it.

I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to creative work, especially writing. There’s something personal about putting your experiences, opinions, and sense of humor into words—all the little things that make your voice YOUR voice.

But curiosity got the better of me.

I tried AI.

And I’ll admit, I liked it. Something that might have taken two hours was suddenly finished in ten minutes.

Hell, what’s not to like about that?

Well, I eventually found out.

I started getting lazy. I wasn’t spending as much time thinking things through, wrestling with sentences, questioning my arguments, or looking for better ways to explain myself. I was letting a machine do something I’d spent most of my life learning to do.

And the worst part?

The writing was starting to sound less like me.

It was polished, grammatically correct, and nicely structured—about as personal as a letter from my insurance company.

Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with using AI. If you’re writing a business email, a product description, or anything where communicating information is the priority, saving time makes sense.

And for people who struggle with writing because of a disability, language barrier, or difficulty finding the right words, AI can offer incredible assistance. I think that’s a good thing.

But when I was writing about my own experiences and opinions, something was missing.
ME.

Not because AI had stolen my personality. I was the one handing it over.

So I stopped using it for a while.

Meanwhile, AI was becoming more common, and I started feeling like I was falling behind. I also noticed more writing online that sounded strangely familiar: similar phrases, similar structures, the same overly enthusiastic tone.

People have copied each other’s writing since somebody first figured out how to put words on paper. AI didn’t invent generic writing, and I’m not claiming everyone who uses it sounds the same.

But I was seeing enough of it to wonder whether we were missing an opportunity to use this technology better.

So I started learning more about it and eventually changed my approach.

I stopped asking AI to write FOR me and started asking it to work WITH me.

I’d give it my thoughts, opinions, and arguments, then ask it to challenge me:

Quote:Where’s my reasoning weak? What am I overlooking? What objections might someone raise? Am I explaining myself clearly?

Sometimes, those conversations even made me reconsider what I originally thought.

That’s valuable.

Of course, AI gets things wrong too—sometimes confidently wrong. I don’t treat its answers as gospel. I question them, check important facts, and make my own decisions.

Other times, I’ll ramble into my microphone for ten minutes like some lunatic arguing with himself in an empty room, then ask AI to organize what I said.

But the experiences are mine.

The opinions are mine.

The humor is mine.

And if something comes back sounding like a corporate motivational speaker who just discovered coffee, out it goes.

I’ve also learned that writing isn’t always about producing words. Sometimes, it’s how we figure out what we think.

I’ve started writing about a subject with one opinion and finished with another. Somewhere between the first sentence and the last, I discovered holes in my own reasoning.

I don’t want to lose that experience.

I’m not suggesting everyone needs to agonize over every sentence. Some people don’t enjoy writing. Some people have better things to do.

Fair enough.

I’m only explaining what I discovered about myself: I enjoy writing, thinking things through, and finding my own way to say something—even when my way isn’t the most elegant.

Especially when it isn’t the most elegant.

Because that’s part of my personality.

And yes, before somebody points out the obvious, AI helped me put this article together.

I gave it my experiences, opinions, and what I wanted to say. I asked it to challenge my arguments, identify weaknesses, and help organize everything. Then I went through the results and decided what belonged and what didn’t.

I’m not trying to hide that.

In fact, that’s my whole damn point.

I’m not interested in telling anyone how they’re allowed to use AI. If you’re happy with what you’re producing and those words honestly represent what you mean, that’s your decision.

I’m simply sharing what works for me.

AI wasn’t making me a worse writer. My approach to using it was making me lazier.

Once I changed that approach, I started enjoying writing again. I was thinking more, questioning more, and considering perspectives I might otherwise have overlooked. I wasn’t just getting answers; I was having conversations that helped me develop my own.

To me, that’s where this technology becomes genuinely useful.

So my advice, for whatever it’s worth, is to experiment with AI. Let it help you communicate, challenge your assumptions, identify weaknesses, and find words when you’re struggling.

But don’t accept everything it produces.

Question it.

Disagree with it.

Tell it when something doesn’t sound like you.

And for God’s sake, read what you’re putting your name on.

Not because using AI makes your work less legitimate, but because your name should mean you stand behind what you’re saying.

I don’t care whether someone wrote every word by hand, dictated thoughts into a phone, or worked with AI to organize an entire article.

What matters is whether those words honestly represent the person sharing them.

Because underneath all the technology, grammar, structure, and perfectly polished sentences, there’s supposed to be a human being with something to say.

And I think that human being is worth hearing from.

In their own voice.

Comments 5

Dale F 10-24-2026, 08:18 AM
AI lacks soul, when it’s allowed to form the thoughts or arguments. I feel the same way about AI music. Technically, it is music. In a broader sense, it lacks the feel, the soul, the essence of what musicians actually do. We write pretty words, invent new and unique phrasing with our instruments, we feed off one another. A computer simply cannot do those things. Some of the most interesting music of the last 50 years contains what originally were mistakes…a broken string, String accidentally sitting on the piano in the studio, happy accidents. That kind of real life occurrence creates and encourages creativity.

I’m with you, use it to write or create what needs to be simple and direct. The rest of it, in my opinion, needs to come from the human mind struggling to make sense of this world.
JVieira 10-24-2026, 10:02 AM
I must admit, I too have used Ai to write many things, however, I found out pretty early on it didn’t have my quirkiness, it was similar, but it would use words I personally don’t really use . While yes every now and then I will be thinking of a word, and go look it up, but those were rare occasions, meanwhile Ai would make it seem like I talk like that all the time. So now when I use Ai, it’s as a tool for assistance, not as the author. I may even let it write a full story, but I go through it, use the idea, and re write it myself in the structure, and thought process and language I use.
SAMX 10-24-2026, 10:06 AM
Dale, you make a great point, especially about those happy accidents. Some of the best creative work comes from mistakes nobody planned.

But technically, people have made similar arguments about electric guitars, synthesizers, drum machines, and even photography. Every new technology changes how people create, and not everybody welcomes the change.

I saw it firsthand as a professional photographer who learned darkroom techniques. When digital cameras came along, suddenly everybody with a camera on AUTO was calling themselves a photographer. Annoyed the hell out of me. 😂 But eventually I realized giving people easier access to creativity wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I feel the same about AI music. I’m no musician, and I’d never pretend to be. But I love music, and now I have a way to turn my own experiences, thoughts, and emotions into lyrics and hear them brought to life. I love doing it, and I’m honest about how it’s made.

Does that make me equal to someone who’s spent 30 years mastering an instrument? Of course not. I have tremendous respect for those skills.

But I also think there’s room for both. Technology gives people new ways to express themselves without taking away the value of traditional skills.

For me, the important part is what the person brings to the process and being honest about their contribution.

And I absolutely agree about the mistakes. I mean heck, if we eliminated those from the creative process, I’d have nothing left to work with. 😂
SAMX 10-24-2026, 10:09 AM
Exactly, Joe!That’s pretty much where I landed too. Ai has a habit of making everybody sound like they swallowed the same thesaurus . 😂 I think the trick is knowing your own voice well enough to recognize when something isn’t your voice. Let ai help with the heavy lifting, but make sure the finished product still sounds like YOU..
Louie 10-25-2026, 02:35 PM
I've never questioned any of it. Every time I have had a conversation with you, this is how you speak.
AI is a great tool and using it to help organize your thoughts is smart. You have your own personal editor!