Is AI making us doubt ourselves?

Admit it. You have written an email, of semi-importance, and worried if the tone is right. Worried if the grammar is right. So, you copied the text and popped it into your preferred LLM (Large Language Model), such as ChatGPT, and asked it to make sure that it sounded professional. Within seconds, you receive a near-perfect version of your text that you then copy and paste back into your email, deleting the words you originally wrote.

Should we stop using AI like this?

I'm just thinking out loud here. Wondering about it.

Full disclosure: I'm no A.I. expert and I don't have an answer to that question.

Even as I write this, I see features pop out on the platform, encouraging me to create this post with AI, promising that it will be faster with AI tools. It says it can "generate a full-length blog post with a title and images". Other features are there, such as "attract readers' attention with a catchy title" and "improve your post's grammar, style and readability". I can even change the tone of the blogpost to be "professional, casual, funny, confident, or enthusiastic"!

How tempting is it to use one or all of those features? Extremely tempting. And the reason why I am so tempted is not just because of the time it will save, but because I have now started thinking that people will find the AI version easier to read. That the writing will be smoother and more interesting if I use AI. I start to doubt my ability to write a blog post without it. True, writing is not my vocation. I'm not a writer by trade. The main reason I write is for reflection, to deepen my thinking and learning. But I am starting to doubt myself and my ability to write, all the same.

If I did click on one of those pop-outs, my voice would be lost. I'm sure my original writing style might not be grammatically correct, might not be easy to read, but it is my voice. No one else sounds like me. No one else would make the exact same word choice as me.

We need original writers, good and bad. We need to keep hearing original unedited thoughts. We need to keep hearing humans.

I'm not saying NEVER use AI to edit your writing. I'm saying think carefully before you do and use it for the right reasons.

• Is it really important that the text reads professionally?

• Is it worth potentially losing your voice?

• Is it worth potentially losing the original meaning?

And let's not forget...

• Is it worth the environmental impact using AI will have?

• It is worth risking that AI might write something that is incorrect?

This post was written completely by me, AI-free.