Navigating AI’s role in my writing process

Written and published Friday November 8th, 2024

I’m diving deeper into AI every day. While I know some people have reservations about it (and I have my own), my employer is committed to exploring AI fully, and it’s now a core part of my job. I’m no longer focused on whether AI is good or bad but on how I can use it to work better and make life a little easier.

I ask AI a lot of questions, and it usually delivers answers that are more useful than search engines provide. AI isn’t perfect—it can “hallucinate” information—but search engines have become cluttered with ads and content more interested in selling me things than in providing actual answers. So, even if AI sometimes only gets close to the right answer, it’s still far more helpful than wading through a search engine full of paid links.

Do I use ChatGPT as part of my writing? Yes. Is AI doing the writing for me? No. I’m still the writer, and AI simply helps refine my work under my guidance. For writing, AI tools feel like an always-available, enthusiastic editor who collaborates with me to get where I want to go. Not every suggestion is helpful, but having this collaborator, even if it’s a machine, makes a difference.

Critics often point out that AI gets facts wrong. But honestly, so do humans. I get facts wrong, which is why I double-check anything essential, especially in my technical writing. Expecting perfection from AI is like expecting perfection from friends or colleagues. What really matters is that it’s trying to provide the best response it can.

I’ll be writing about AI as I continue exploring it. And yes, AI will be involved in that process. For example, the first draft of this post is all mine. Once I finish, I’ll run it through AI, ask for polishing suggestions, then review its feedback and make final edits. I create a lot of content each day, so having AI’s assistance allows me to speed up the process without letting it take over the work. I’ll be honest about the downsides of AI too, but here I want to acknowledge that I use it because it genuinely helps. And if it stops being helpful, I’ll stop using it.

For now, AI is a tool I find useful, and I’m open to seeing where it goes.