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
- If consumed by a human, it should also be written by one
- It’s 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
- AI won’t replace human writing (as writing is thinking) ^9893f3
# If Consumed by a Human, it also Should Be Written by One
If Consumed by a Human, Should Be Written by HumanI like Naval’s take, as elaborated above, which says it all depends on who the customer is along the lines of writings are for humans to read mostly, so they should be written by a human.
Code is mostly a tool to achieve something, read by a computer, so it’s less relevant to write by hand, unless you work in a team or need strong maintainability. Full conversations says:
Also, I pondered on the question of Should I Change My Writing because of AI?
# Hard to Finish an Idea That’s Not Yours
Its Hard to Finish an Idea that is not Yours (and suggested by AI)While I use Claude Code a lot for my Omarchy plugins and Linux optimization/failure detection, I don’t use it for writing and note-taking, especially for coming up with unique ideas and driving them home by writing them through to the end.
Its Hard to Finish an Idea that is not Yours (and suggested by AI)It’s so hard to finish an idea that is not yours and is just suggested by AI. Instead, I like to Write Manually, Daydream, and follow my own train of thought, even if not all-encompassing, but at least it’s my thought, the idea that has an interest and connection to me.
Related: When Writing in Obsidian, Keep AI out of it
# 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.
# Other Learnings: When Writing Code
- The Problem is not the AI Code but Nobody Knows Anything Anymore
- Writing code by hand might be dead but it certainly helps
Origin: AI Writing