AI will never write my words for me

I have never (and will never) use AI to write any of my words.

And you have my word on that.

I don’t have a problem with people using AI to write certain things for them. (And, even if I did, there’s nothing I can do about it.) Example: a friend used AI recently to write gift basket descriptions for a charity auction. No biggie.

Other people use it for other generic things that save them time and don’t really matter. (I can’t think of any right now—I bet AI could give me a list)

But I’m not going to use it 1.) because “writer” is a huge part of my identity and 2.) I think it’s a slippery slope.

I’ve been honing my writing craft for a long, long time. Not everything I write is brilliant obviously (this post, for example), but when I do write something brilliant, I want people to think: THAT’S ALL HER. SHE DOESN’T USE AI.

I’ll be honest. When I read something that a friend or acquaintance writes—and I know they use AI to write things for them—I immediately think, “Hmm… who wrote this? Sally or AI?”

I want ALL THE CREDIT for words I write and NO DOUBT in people’s minds that the words came straight from my brain.

“If you don’t use AI, you’ll get left behind,” some might say. Fine. Leave me behind then with my original words and handcrafted poem art and handwritten notes and books I made all by myself.

Leave me behind in my imperfection and sometimes messiness and my quirky humanity.

See if I care.

I actually do care though, because I don’t just write books and make art. I’m also a freelance writer/editor for my job. And I’ve lost several jobs over the past few years because the person who hired me figured out that AI could write stuff for them for free, and that was good enough.

I specifically remember writing a series of emails for a business dude that were about AI and wondering, “Hmm… how long until he figures out that AI could write these emails…?”

About two weeks lol.

I also got a job last year that someone had outsourced to a company that uses AI, and the writing was shit, so they wanted my human brain instead. (they eventually gave my job to cheaper interns)

So, yeah, I’m worried that AI will take my livelihood away from me. Which is why I’m working hard to get the word out about my books so I can hopefully make a living writing words for myself and not other people.

There’s a lot more I could say, but I’ll stop here for now.

IN CONCLUSION: AI WILL NEVER WRITE MY WORDS FOR ME.

If you’d like to support me and my human writing, I’d love for you to become a paid subscriber. I share a lot of stuff on the other side of the paywall that I don’t feel comfortable sharing with the class at large.

What are your thoughts on AI? Has it affected you and your art? I’d love to hear about it!