Why I Will Never Use AI For Writing
You will never read an AI generated word on this blog or in anything I write. Not in a sermon. Not in a book. Not even in an email. I claim each and every word and sentence, every comma and dash—I am fond of dashes—and every careless error as entirely my own. I know AI is becoming a popular tool for writers. I know AI can do in a heartbeat what can sometimes take me hours of work (although I comfort myself that at least I have a heart to beat in those hours). I’ll take the time. There are more important things than efficiency, and the brain is a muscle. The labour of collecting thoughts, choosing words, and cementing them into sentences keeps my mind strong, engaged, and growing. I dare not relinquish it. I know that AI is good, and getting better every day, at mimicking human logic, emotion, and eloquence. I understand fully that it is progressing far more quickly than I am. It could easily outpace me, and in some ways I’m sure it already has, at being interesting, informed, persuasive, and inspiring—but it can never outpace me at being me.
Words are personal. Without communication, our thoughts would be hidden, our hearts and souls would be trapped in perpetual solitude—but words release us. What a glorious gift! Perhaps we undervalue words for their sheer multitude. Perhaps we lose sight of each other speaking in the distance of pages and operating systems. We certainly cheapen words with our thoughtlessness, cynicism, lies, and inanity. But the fact still remains: words from a person are always a personal revelation. When I write, I open a public window into a piece of my soul, my thoughts, myself, and I welcome you to look inside. Poke around. Criticise the wallpaper if you like, but please engage with the thought on the table. It may be imperfect and incomplete, but it is freely given. If you’re reading this, please know that I take your willingness to pause and engage your own mind with mine very seriously. I will never share that privilege with a machine, no matter how insightful and helpful it may sound.
This is personal.
