Using Ai: Writing with integrity and authenticity

What’s the difference between getting help and outsourcing to Ai?

I use Ai. I’m using it right now to help me shape this article. I know lots of people who are using Ai to write content for social media, emails, marketing, books even, and more. I see how this is changing the way we write, the way we sound, how we express ourselves, the way we communicate—and it’s not necessarily for the better.

I feel a bit like the ChatGPT police, as every time I see something that has the classic Ai patterns in the copy, I find I’m stopping myself from commenting, “Written by ChatGPT?!” Currently sitting on my hands on the daily!

And who am I to judge..? I use ChatGpt to help me write my Substacks and I don’t have a problem with people using Ai (so I can only imagine how annoying it must be for people who do!) However when I see something that is say, shared as channelled by an Arcturian, or I see something where the author receives, and accepts, lots of comments praising the incredible writing… Particularly if I think it’s obvious they had very little hand in thinking, let alone writing, any of it themselves… It is then that I want to slap my hands against my forehead and call it out in the comments! Because this is where I feel we are loosing our integrity, let alone where we are loosing our creativity and authenticity.

I totally understand why people are using Ai to help with writing social media or email marketing content, it is a great tool for speeding up the process and more often than not, on the surface anyway, it sounds great!

Writing takes time. It can take a day, sometimes more, for me to research, draft, and shape something for Substack. Even with a helping hand from my Chat… So I understand the need, the desire to speed things up, particularly when creating for multiple platforms.

Where is this leading us, if we are not thoughtful about the process? Are we handing over our creativity?

Books, articles, magazines, emails, product descriptions, marketing and more, more often than not now, has been run through an Ai, who will edit it according to its patterns and programming, unless you expressly ask it not to. I personally think that we are being lazy with these incredible tools and if we're not careful, we're going to wake up in a world where everything we write and everything we read sounds the same, because it all has the same editor, editing to a similar set of instructions.

My question/s for us then is this… How do we use Ai in/for/with our writing [for social media and beyond] processes without losing our voice, our human imperfectness, our integrity, our authenticity?

Because Ai is already changing the way we communicate…

It can be soooo subtle too. Here’s an example… I was talking to someone the other day who received an email from a colleague, which she felt had been written/ edited by an Ai. It was too polished and professional, it was perfect in a way that didn’t quite sound like them.

And the first thing she thought?

"If their email is this perfect, does my reply need to be too?"

Is using Ai therefore changing our expectations of how we should write? Are people hesitating, second-guessing their own words? Their own thoughts even? Is our messy human way of communicating, that’s unpolished compared to Ai, on the way out? I hope not.

New software updates on phones and laptops have Ai integrations which ask us (or in some instances just do it for us) to write or rewrite our texts and emails now. What happens if filtering ourselves through an Ai becomes the norm, or using Ai to speak /write’ for us instead of using our own words, our own thoughts, our own tones and nuances? I see it in ai-generated content on social media all them time, from scripts to voice-overs and even Ai-Twins… With the predicted influx of Ai agents, suposidly acting on our behalf on the web, where is this going?

How to spot Ai writing

Ai copy writing is everywhere. I seem to be able to spot where something has been written by an Ai, in ways that other people have not yet tuned into… I wonder if people don’t notice or don’t care…

Ai writing has a pattern that I see repeating throughout the internet, throughout emails, posts and articles… It’s got patterns, it’s got tells, that once you’ve seen it, you can’t un-see it. I’ve clocked these typical Ai phrasing patterns, the kind of thing that once you notice it, suddenly, it’s everywhere…

The "It’s not just X, it’s Y" structure is one of the key phrasing patterns that jumps out at me. It’s subtle but it’s usually always there. I see this everywhere, it is one that stands out the most to me and most people don’t edit it because it works well. My ChatGPT told me that this is because ‘Ai loves a neat contrast.’

The “What if…” or “Imagine if…” opener is another clue. Ai knows these paragraphs will pull people in and although they are great tool to use in copy in some instances— as I personally love asking my readers to imagine something— it’s still however an Ai writing hallmark.

And for Ai’s signature move? My Chat tells me that it’s: ’Big, sweeping statements that sound deep but don’t really say much.’ (!) You know the ones… Ai knows how to make words sound profound, but often, there’s no real insight behind them.

I don’t want this article to be about calling people out for using Ai to write copy, even if I have become the ChatGPT police in my travels around the web.🚨

I want it to be about how can we work with this new technology better. This article is a message for all of us who are using Ai and want to be in right relation with it. I don’t think that people are trying to deceive by using Ai, but are we being in fully in our authenticity, and in integrity, in how we are using it?

Collectively, I think we are just a little bit lost with how to use Ai well.

Ai writing, creativity and integrity.

This is murky, because Ai can be helpful in a myriad of ways, so finding your own boundaries when it comes your creativity, and what you are willing to outsource to the machine, no matter how clever it may be.

I’m using my Chat to collect, combine and collate multiple strands of research, scribbles, audio notes and thinking. I do this alongside it helping me to shape those thoughts and my words into some kind of structure, order and flow, to some extent. It helps me to get started on an article, creating a framework for me to flow within, much more easily.

Ai helps me, but it doesn’t replace me.

Here’s some Inner Unicorn Questions for us to ponder… 🦄

- If we outsource our content to Ai, are we still creators, or are we just becoming editors of Ai-generated content?

- Does Ai written content still carry our original intent as the author, through our prompts, or is it reshaping our meaning in ways we don’t always notice?

- If Ai helps us to structure a post or article, and uses our own words, are we still fully in control of the creative process?

- What part of writing makes something truly ‘ours’—the initial idea, the structure, the phrasing, or the energy behind the words?

- When does Ai stop being a tool and start being the creator?

I personally think it’s about how involved you/ we are in the process.

If you’re letting Ai think for you, generating posts, articles, books even, without your own input, then you’re not the writer. You’re the producer and publisher of machine-generated content.

And that does change things.

I don’t think there is anything wrong in having Ai support in research, or creating form and structure. Having it help to refine our work, but not letting it replace us or our creativity.

If you are using Ai to help you with social media, emails, marketing and more, I would recommend, if you don’t do this already, that…

— Read through carefully and rewrite sentences that feel too structured or things that just don’t sound like you. Find/ learn the key Ai language patterns and edit these out. Especially the obvious Ai scripts, it’s really boring reading these same language patterns everywhere! A total eye-roll. Make writing human again ;)

— Add more genuine personal reflections and stories. Ai can be great at mimicking your style, but when it comes to substance, it can’t know your real, human experiences or personal insights and wisdoms, unless you weave these in yourself.

— Be open about your use of Ai. I personally think people deserve to know if they’re reading your words, those channeled from Archturians or other worldly beings, or words that are purely produced by your Ai.

I believe that Ai can help us, but it truly can’t replace us. (No matter what Bill Gates and the tech bros say).

Are you using Ai in your writing? What’s your thoughts on what I have shared?

What do you think about using Ai? Can we do it with integrity and authenticity?

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