ChatGPT
Using AI for Your Writing Is Cheating on Yourself
Enhancing or undermining your craft?
When I sat down with Fabio Cerpelloni on his latest podcast, we discussed many things as non-native English writers, including my opinion about using ChatGPT for writing.
After the recording, our conversation stayed with me and made me think about why using ChatGPT as a non-native speaker is like cheating on yourself.
AI is changing everything, even writing. The big question people talk about all over the internet is, ‘Will AI take over [enter your job title]?’.
You can read those articles and watch those videos, but I want to discuss why relying on AI-assisted tools for writing is like robbing yourself of personal growth.
The Power of Writing
Writing is way more than just stringing words together.
Writing is thinking.
I started writing long ago, and it’s been a game-changer for me. Because writing helps me articulate my thoughts better, make sense of the world around me, and wrap my head around complex ideas.
I don’t want to give heat to people who use AI-assisted writing tools to make a living. Probably, they are pretty talented writers already without the use of AI.
This Is How I See It
ChatGPT and Co. is like hiring a catering company for your dinner party.
When guests arrive, they rave about how tasty those tiny vegan sandwiches are, and you take their compliments with a smile.
But!
Deep down, you know, you didn’t make those sandwiches; the caters did. And you’re not that good of a cook.
Writing works the same way.
If you rely on AI-assisted tools to write your articles and get compliments on the output, you know you didn’t produce those articles.
Yes, you might make more Medium money by churning out a ton of content, but deep down, you know, you’re not as great of a writer as your readers believe.
Writing is a Foundational Skill
Writing narrative first reports is a huge part of my job as a UX researcher/designer.
I remember working on a large, highly technical project where I had to make the research insights super clear. At first, it was a struggle to find the right words, but as I kept writing, things started to make more sense.
My reports aren’t just about listing boring facts. My reports are about telling stories that make sense to everyone — from my team to the stakeholders — so that we get their buy-in to improve products.
When I finally presented the research findings, I saw how my words helped them understand our users better. That’s when I learned how powerful simple, clear writing can be.
Writing is one of the most essential skills in the business world (from writing on social media to report creation) because it provides a way to connect ideas and people.
The Power of Persuasion
Persuasive writing is key when you want to get your ideas across and trigger a change.
It’s not just about sharing dry information. It’s about convincing people and connecting them with the info.
Nowadays, I see so much soulless content online: people pushing out ebooks and articles with ChatGPT. I rarely see writings that truly speak to me or make me think or act differently. When I see something like that, it’s special.
That’s the kind of writing that really makes a difference, and it’s something that AI just can’t do the same way humans can…yet.
My Realization About AI-assisted Writing Tools
The more I use AI for writing, the less I trust my ability to write well.
I write the draft of my articles entirely on my own, without any AI-assisted tools. Once I have a good draft, I copy it into ChatGPT with the following prompt:
Analyze the following article draft and suggest improvements on flow, section headings, examples, and title. Explain why you’re suggesting the improvement. Here’s the draft: [copy draft]
Then ChatGPT comes up with an analysis.
Notice I don’t ask ChatGPT to rewrite the article for me.
After this, I improve my article, but only if ChatGPT’s suggestions make sense to me.
Once it’s done, I do another check with ChatGPT, and then I run through Grammarly on my article to fix typos or grammatical errors. I’m not a native speaker, after all, so sometimes I confuse things & tenses, especially the ‘z’ and ‘s’ and ‘had been’ or ‘have been.’
Conclusion
I believe AI is the future, and our lives will be more intertwined with it in the next decade.
AI can help us write better, for sure. But it can’t take over the personal growth we get from writing ourselves.
Writing is more than just finishing a book or an article. It’s about how I grow and change as I write.
The human side of writing is so special. It’s how we share our thoughts and feelings and connect with others. No machine can do that quite like we can…yet.
Use AI wisely, and don’t cheat yourself out of personal growth!
I want to leave you with some thoughts to ponder so you can decide
- Does creating paintings with Dall-e make you a better illustrator?
- Does creating articles with ChatGPT make you a better writer?
I know myself, and based on my experience, my answer to both questions is no.
Just as doodling with AI doesn’t make me a better illustrator or painting with Dall-e doesn’t make me a better painter, using AI-assisted tools to write articles doesn’t make me a better writer.
We can label ourselves as much as we want with titles such as ‘writer’ or ‘artist’ and have people look up to us, but deep down, we know…we are not as good as people think we are.
The question is, how does this affect our self-worth in the long run?
If you’re new to me, my name is Niki. I’m a part-time writer with a 9-to-5 job in tech.
