Last week, a friend sent me a copy of a 'Thought for the Day' reflection she'd written for her company's newsletter. She said she'd had just 20 minutes to put it together, so knew it wasn't her best.

When I read it, I thought it was amazing. It was so polished and perfected however that I found it hard to believe she'd written it. (I have huge respect for this friend; she's an excellent writer and knows her grammar, but I also know how she writes.)

I didn't want to ask if she'd use AI (𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨?) but when I sent her my positive feedback, she admitted she had some help from Copilot. (𝘋𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵?)

Now it made sense. The sentences were tight and punchy – classic AI. Each paragraph had structure and the message was clear. It was grammatically flawless. 

It was her original idea, but it didn't sound quite like her. (I know that given some time she could hone the copy with AI to make it sound more like her – this isn't about that – it's about how it makes me, the reader, 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭.)

I realised that, almost instantly, the piece lost its impact on me. Regardless of whether she had the original thought or how moving it was, I felt that because AI was involved in doing the talking to me, I mentally checked out. My brain has not retained one word of it. 

It lost its authenticity. I was no longer engaged in her emotive words. I felt a little duped and, frankly, her cat could have written it. 

I find this in my own posts. When I let AI 'improve' them, I'm immediately impressed. It sounds so good, so clear and on the button. But when I sit on it a day or two and go back, I feel so detached from it that I wonder if I even wrote it in the first place – was it in fact my idea or did AI take over? Will anyone believe this was me? 

So, I've decided to write human. I will waffle. I will go off on tangents. My writing will use more words than necessary and be a bit repetitive. I want to write as I think. I want you to feel like you know me, not my computer. 

The more I worry about the impact of AI, the more it seems to prove to me that it's no threat to creativity.

AI should be helping with the things we don't want to do (𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵) – not the things we do want to do. I like writing and editing. I enjoy formatting. I get huge satisfaction from proofreading and getting into someone's words to enhance the meaning. I love my job. 

I don't know what the answer is – AI isn't going anywhere. I wonder – if you're using AI to do your writing – if you maybe consider that it really doesn't care about you, not as much as your readers will. It's really okay if your next email isn't perfect.

Let's strive for Authentic Intelligence.