Wordsmithing: My Personal Perspective on Writing and AI

Writing well matters, regardless of the tools you use.

(Be sure to check out the work-in-progress snapshots at the end of this essay.)

I write a lot.

A lot.

I write in so many places, it may not look like it.

• Ask Leo! articles, direct emailed answers, replies to comments, etc.
• Other business and personal emails throughout the day.
• My “side projects” Not All News is Bad and 7 Takeaways.
• My blog.

There’s probably more. Two key points:

• I’m almost always writing.
• Not all writing looks like writing. Email replies? Really? Really.

That’s why I strongly recommend people invest more in improving their writing skills. It’s the one thing I wish I’d done differently in school.

In certain industries, like tech, there’s another layer: English. English is everywhere, regardless of your native language. In some places, it’s the Lingua Franca(*), the language that everyone understands. Improving your English skills improves your communication skills and effectiveness in those environments.

Now AI has entered the chat.

I’m a big AI proponent. I find it amazing and useful. Since its introduction, I’m using it almost daily.

But not to write.

On Ask Leo!, it’s a tool I use, but I still do the writing. Just like this essay: The first draft is just me writing stream of consciousness as I think through this topic. Only after that draft is done, and partially developed, do I bring in any AI tools.

Here, my AI usage falls into two categories:

• Editing. I use tools like ProWriting Aid, and lex.page, to analyze my writing and make suggestions.
• Imaging. I’ll use ChatGPT to generate an image for the top of this essay or suggest ideas for images that capture the theme.

Today, there might be an additional use. In a common writing occurrence, this essay wanted to go somewhere other than where I first envisioned. The original title “Why I Write” isn’t where this went. I’ll probably use AI for ideas and suggestions. I’ve never liked an AI title verbatim, but suggestions and ideas are great. It’s not unusual for a title to be a heavily edited version of a suggestion.

Does this impact my writing skills?

No. I learn from the suggestions, so subsequent writing flows out of my fingers with fewer edits needed. The same is true of my human editor who makes me look like a better writer than I really am over on Ask Leo!. I’ve learned a lot from her.

The issue is when individuals use AI to generate writing, not to polish it, which could negatively affect writing skills.

The educational system encourages AI use despite rules against it. In class, the goal is not the skill, but the grade. AI can help get a better grade at the cost of developing the skill.

That’s where it fails.

AI can be misused. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t be a useful tool. Like any tool, it needs to be used properly.

Now, let’s see what AI suggests for a title.

AI in progress

I thought I’d share images of the progress of the article above as I edited from its original rough draft, and use AI for the image and title.

AI assisted editing

Apparently I forgot to capture the “Readability” stage, and by this point, lex.page had zero suggestions on the passive voice check.

Note that in every stage, I declined to take several suggestions. Mostly because they weren’t “me”, which is perhaps the biggest risk of this kind of editing: homogenization and the loss of your personal voice.

AI assisted titling

I asked lex.page for some title ideas.

None of these blew me away, so I went over the ChatGPT, where I asked “Please suggest engaging titles for the following essay, in the first person:” followed by the entire essay.

Another set of “meh”. After thinking on it for a while, I took the last lex.page suggestion, and edited the heck out of it.

AI assisted graphics

I then asked ChatGPT: “Please generate a 16:9 photorealistic hero image for this essay: ” followed by the entire essay.

Got it in one.

I then used Canva’s AI to expand the image from the 16:9 I requested to the 40:21 aspect ratio preferred by Facebook, and put a border around it. The result is at the top of the page.

I also grabbed ChatGPT’s “Prompt” text it makes available for the generated image:

A photorealistic scene showing a writer’s workspace: a modern desk with a computer displaying a text document, a stack of handwritten notes, and a coffee mug. Nearby, a small digital assistant (representing AI) glows softly, offering suggestions on a side screen. The room is softly lit with natural light streaming through a window. In the background, a bookshelf filled with books on writing, creativity, and technology can be seen. The image represents the blend of traditional writing and AI assistance, with a clean and organized look.

I edited that down and used it as the ALT-text used by screen readers.

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(*) A term which is itself a fascinating bit of irony.