Proudly written with AI

I use AI to write prose because I don’t have time to write everything by hand. I have more ideas I want to explain than time to turn them into finished posts. Without AI, I’d barely post anything.

The division of labor is straightforward: I supply the ideas, AI acts as a copywriter, and I act as the editor. I explain what I want to say, read the draft, and ask for revisions. I cut, correct, and redirect until the piece says what I mean.

This is a long way from “AI slop.” The ideas and arguments are still very much my own. Delegating the idea generation to AI as well would be an entirely different thing.

That still requires judgment. I have to decide whether the argument makes sense, whether the wording captures it, and whether I stand behind the result. Having a copywriter doesn’t relieve an editor of responsibility for what gets published.

For non-artistic writing, doing all the prose by hand seems increasingly unjustifiable. Like coding, it can be done well by specifying the desired shape, reviewing the result, and leaving the gruntwork to AI.

Artistic writing can be different. If crafting the sentences is itself the point, delegating that work changes the activity. But most of what I write is an attempt to explain something. I want the explanation to be clear, accurate, and worth reading. I’ll shamelessly use AI to achieve that.

And if you don’t like it, you can giiiit out!