"What I Learned throughout the Last Years Writing with AI"

I’ve been writing long before AI, starting in 2015 to publish on this very blog, and then AI came, and I still write manually. Through my experience as a full-time author, these are some of the learnings I got from working and writing with AI over the last 2-3 years. ^bfb3f9

# Learnings

Four things I learned throughout the last years working with AI

1. If consumed by a human, it should also be written by one
2. It’s hard to finish an idea that’s not yours
3. If you start writing today, there’s no way to know if you can write without AI
4. AI won’t replace human writing (as writing is thinking) ^9893f3

# If Consumed by a Human, it also Should Be Written by One

# Hard to Finish an Idea That’s Not Yours

# If You Start Writing Today, There’s no way to Know if You Can Write without AI

Hannes Mühleisen said that he has the benefit of having coded or created DuckDB before the AI hype, so people trust the product, but it’s hard if you start today, it’s really hard to see if a product is good or bad- they all look amazing.

It’s the same for writing. If you can show you have written before using AI, people can trust you more easily than when you start today. If you haven’t, there’s no way for readers to know if you can write without AI, whereas if you have written long enough, people know.

# AI Won’t Replace Human Writing (And Thinking)

As Writing is Thinking, to me, it won’t replace human thinking anytime soon when it comes to writing. No AI can write from experience, from the heart, so even if the writing might be good, it’s soulless, and there’s nothing more. It’s just a soup of words.

I wrote a full essay on Will AI Replace Human Thinking.

# There’s Writing for Humans, and Others for Machines

Joe Reis commented that “there’s writing for humans and writing for machines. These are totally separate audiences”. This is so true. Writing documentation and how-to’s vs. stories.

But still, documentation that is written for humans, for example, and is nicely storied, is so much nicer to read. Also another observation:

If it’s good for humans (CLIs, concise, to the point), it’s probably also good for agents.

And there’s also the factor of time. But in my opinion, everyone just needs to know the consequences of letting it be written by AI (different intent, to elaborate, etc.). A clear button or sign, whether it’s AI-written or not, would help big time.

# Further Reads

• Keep AI Out of Your Obsidian Vault

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Origin: AI Writing