“Should I Still Write on My Own?” A Common Dilemma in the Time of AI

There was a time when writing had to begin on a blank page, a wandering mind, and maybe a collection of half-finished thoughts in a notebook. Now, a prompt creates an article, rewrites a paragraph, suggests a headline, and even produces an entire story within seconds. Artificial intelligence has changed the game for writers, making the activity quicker and more easygoing.

Between embracing suggestions and creating fully formed articles, many have found themselves asking the very reasonable question: If AI can write for me, should I still write for myself? It is a question which students, bloggers, content writers, journalists, and aspiring novelists alike have found themselves asking. While there is value in the convenience of an AI, the value of human writing stretches far beyond stringing a couple of sentences together.

1. Writing Isn't Just Putting Words Together

We tend to think of writing as putting words together. We think of it as turning ideas into sentences, and sentences into paragraphs. But what is it really? When you write a personal essay, a poem, or even a meaningful letter, there are other things that go into it beyond throwing a few words together.

It is remembering, and observing, and questioning, and caring, and deciding what is worth putting on paper.

An AI can write a descriptive paragraph, but it doesn't have the memories of a rainy afternoon that you do, or the ability to recall a particular evening spent sitting by the window. It's easy to put words together, but it's the memories behind the words that make the writing meaningful. It's what makes your writing sound like you.

2. AI Can Help You Write

Artificial Intelligence is a pretty sweet writing companion. It can help with brainstorming. It can help with arranging. It can find grammatical errors. It can suggest a new headline. It can simplify a particularly complicated sentence. It can make suggestions.

For someone who is just getting into writing, it could make the whole process a bit more bearable but when an AI can write an entire piece for you, it's difficult not to rely on it entirely, and in doing so, lose the spark that made you want to write in the first place.

The point isn't to use an AI at all. The point is to know how and when to use it, and when to put pen to paper yourself. You can use it to help you with organization, with research, and with finding some errors, but you shouldn't let it become the voice of your piece. Don't let it replace the things that make your writing uniquely yours.

3. Humans Need to Remember They Are Not the Fastest Writers

One of the reasons why people feel the need to use AI is because of the ever-growing demand for faster writing.

If you're in a profession where speed and productivity are valued, it's understandable if you feel the need to lean on an AI to help you get more words on the page. But just because you can write faster doesn't mean that you should. If you're working in a fast-paced environment, speed is probably a good thing. But if you're doing it just for the sake of writing more, you're missing out on one of the main reasons why we engage in the act of writing in the first place.

Content may be created faster by an AI, but it doesn't mean that it can be replaced by one. To write well, you need to know how to research efficiently, question what you are writing about, observe things, make predictions, and put across an idea in an engaging way. You can't just write something down faster - you need to know something about it in the first place.

4. Writing For Yourself Is How You Can Find Your Voice.

If you're just starting out as a writer, you're going to find yourself struggling with finding your voice. Your first couple of articles probably weren't published straight off the bat. Your first introduction didn't flow perfectly. You didn't have the vocabulary that you have now. It's all a process. Self-writing is how you can find your natural voice, the parts that need more practice, and the parts you excel at. If you give every crummy first draft to an AI, you'll never grow as a writer.

Give it a shot on your own, and after you've written what you want to say, you can use an AI to check it over, make suggestions, and help you revise. It can help you find your voice, just not by replacing you entirely.

5. Humans Still Have Value.

People argue over whether or not AI can write for you. But what they don't argue is what makes writing worth doing in the first place. It's about authenticity; it's about originality; it's about having a voice, an opinion, and something to say that can't be said by an algorithm. A personal blog is interesting to read when a writer has something unique to say, whether it's a new perspective on an old topic, a conversation they overheard, or a lesson that they've learned. An AI can help you write all of that down, but it's up to you to decide what to put there in the first place. What value do you bring to the table?

And So, should you still write on your own? Of course you should! If writing is a passion of yours, or even a thing that you just enjoy, there's no reason not to keep doing it, or to let technology stifle your creativity. You don't need to use an AI to put out words 24/7 just because it's there. You can write your first drafts out on your own; you can make mistakes, you can find your voice, and you can read books by other people who have done the same. You can find your own opinions and ideas and express them in your own way before relying on a computer program to do it for you. You can use the technology when it enhances your message, and you can remember that your voice isn't something that you need to outsource. In a world where writing seems to be getting easier by the day, the ability to say something meaningful in a meaningful way should still be cherished.