Week Notes: Vol. 2 – № 8

AI helped me write this

“AI helped me write this.”

Imagine seeing that sentence at the end of a blog post, an email, or a social media post. How does it make you feel?

Compare that to this statement: “AI wrote this for me.” Or “generated by AI.”

Do you feel differently about one versus another?

The line between lazy and efficient seems to be as thin as a micrometer.

AI helped me write this blog post, by the way.

The idea came to me when I noticed myself starting to lean more on ChatGPT to help me think up different words or phrases for something right at the tip of my tongue but mentally far away.

This isn’t a new habit for me. I’ve been doing a version of this since middle school. Anytime I’d get stuck, I’d open the dictionary app, hop over to the thesaurus, and surf around until I found a word that clicked.

Sometimes I’d find the right word right away. Other times, it slowed me down and, occasionally, became a distraction.

Nobody calls it cheating, though. It’s just part of writing.

With generative AI tools, I can free write or brain dump what comes to mind and offload the editing process. I take over from there and polish.

In fact, ChatGPT helped me with the last 6 paragraphs. 134 words written by me but aided by a robot as I split my attention between my toddler singing along to Ms. Rachel and my preschooler arguing with me about how much TV time he has left.

Other ways I’ve been using AI in my job: Distilling important insights from transcripts of hours-long research interviews and testing sessions, drafting cold sales messages, and putting together an initial list of questions I might ask for upcoming SME interviews.

In all of these cases, AI does the grunt work. I’m there for accuracy and a personal touch.

The world is still figuring out what’s worth automating and what should stay human. But pride isn’t an excuse for being too busy to get the work done.

Just know we can all tell when you carelessly copy and paste.

Authenticity always sticks out.