Thoughts on AI Writing Assistance

Reflections on why relying too heavily on AI writing assistance may be a disservice writers impose on themselves.

In I, Cyborg: Using Co-Intelligence professor Ethan Mollick lays out how he used AI to write his recently published book Co-Intelligence – Living and Working with AI. Mollick explains:

“I am only human, and in writing the book, I often found myself stuck. In previous books, that could mean a single sentence or paragraph would block hours of writing, as I used my frustration as an excuse to take a break and walk away until inspiration struck. With AI, that was no longer a problem. I would become a Cyborg and tell the AI: I am stuck on a paragraph in a section of a book about how AI can help get you unstuck. Can you help me rewrite the paragraph and finish it by giving me 10 options for the entire paragraph in four professional styles? Make the styles and approaches different from each other, making them extremely well written. In an instant, I had the paragraph written in a persuasive style, an informative style, a narrative style, and more. While I rarely used any of the text the AI produced, it gave me options and pathways forward. Similarly, when I felt a paragraph was clunky and bad, I would ask the AI: Make this better, in the style of a bestselling popular book about AI, or add more vivid examples. The text it produced almost never appears in the book, but they helped guide me out of difficulty. And, interestingly, it was some of these paragraphs that my editor seemed to like best.”

This paragraph had me reflecting on my own writing process and the broader implications of using AI tools when inspiration is failing, the muse is sleeping, words are not flowing, or coming out right. I admit, this is often the case for me, frankly more often than not. Yet, I have so far refrained from using AI writing assistance. Not because I am morally against it. I am sure it can be great, many writers from all over the skill distribution ladder use it, and the tools will only become progressively better from now on. My objection is something different. As I wrote in a comment to the post:

“I would argue that the process of being stuck when writing, spending some time not knowing how to continue, and then finding the solution is vitally important. Having an AI freeing the writer from the tougher parts of writing, and writers block is perhaps not ideal.”

A fellow Mollick reader responded to my comments and rightfully said that my idea was conceptually appealing but asked “Is struggling through writer's block on your own actually better or just more suited to romantic conceits?”

My response:

“I would argue there is important data in being stuck. Perhaps some part is difficult because the writer doesn't understand the subject matter well enough, maybe that part is really not that essential, it doesn't fit well with a previous chapter, etc. By using AI writing assistance, there is no need for reflections like these, which is great if it's a matter of going from A to B and finishing a draft, but if it’s meant to be more of a creative exploration, I personally think it's better to work out these tricky parts.”

In this post, I will expand on these points and clarify what I meant.