Writing "the worst text I've ever written" with the help of AI

I’ve talked quite a bit in this newsletter about my decision not to use AI for writing. Partly because I’m writing this newsletter for my own enjoyment, so automating the process doesn’t really make sense. But also because I worry about the cognitive decline many of us have experienced with increased use of AI tools, and because I firmly believe that you become good at what you practice.

Fast forward to earlier this week, when I had to write a one-page text for an application. A bit short on time and very uninspired, I struggled to come up with anything beyond “yay”.

So, I asked Claude for help.

I put some time into creating a prompt, and the text was generated in seconds. After some basic editing, I passed it on to my most dedicated critic and supporter, my Mom, thinking it was at least as good as most other things I’ve asked her to read lately.

(Yes, I’m aware that I’m fortunate to have a parent who can still proofread my work even though I’m well out of high school. I read her work at times, too.)

But this time, her reaction was lukewarm at best.

After several rounds of looking at the text, she said, “It is grammatically correct, and the sentences all make sense, but I read and read and I realise there is nothing of substance.”

Word salad.

We ended up cutting most of it, and I submitted a 90% human-written application instead. (Claude is quite good with greetings and mannerisms; I should give it that.)

A few days later, she came back to the topic, asking, “You said you used AI to write that text?”

I explained that it wasn’t all AI, but yes, I had used AI to help me write based on the application instructions and additional instructions I provided about content, arguments, writing style, and more.

Then she said, “I’ve read your writing since you learned how to write, and that is probably the worst text you’ve ever shared with me”.

She said that while it was grammatically correct (which most texts throughout my writing career probably were not, to be honest), it didn’t carry any thinking.

Writing a good text is not about putting words in order; it’s about having something to say. And if we truly have something to say, the correct order of words might not even be that important.

I genuinely believe that writing is thinking, and that writing well means thinking well. So, when we replace human writing with large language models, the loss is not primarily linguistic; it is intellectual.

I realise many people don’t care about thinking well. If that’s the case, using AI to write makes complete sense. However, for people like me, who care, it seems more essential than ever to keep thinking and writing closely connected.

Feeling tired and uninspired seemed like good reasons to take a shortcut. However, since the hard part of the job was identifying what to say rather than writing it down on paper, it didn’t help much at all.

I don’t think word salad applications will take me very far in life. So I’ll continue to stick to my personal principle of not using AI to write.

It’s good to know that my Mom will call me out if I ever break that promise.

Anna

—

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WEEK

FUTURE and LEADERSHIP — Many organisations have been undergoing intense change for several years now. Are leadership teams giving up? This report shows that 74% of executives believe their companies will die in 10 years without business transformation. While 77% of C-suite executives report that they’re committed to their companies’ transformation efforts, only 57% believe their organisation is taking the wrong approach to that transformation.

AUTHENTIC CONVERSATION – Emma Watson has long been an inspiration for me, with her public commitments to sustainability, equality and authenticity. After being out of the public eye for a while, she just shared a 2.5-hour-long conversation with Jay Shetty on his podcast. They cover topics such as being true to yourself, daring to change paths, finding healthy relationships, and more.

SUSTAINABILITY and CHOCOLATE — Are candy trends trying to hide the scariest Halloween facts? Candy companies are quietly reducing the amount of chocolate in popular treats as cocoa prices surge, quietly altering the candy aisle.

Thanks for reading! This post is public, so feel free to share it with a friend.