You Feed AI. Don’t Let AI Feed You….
I used to be skeptical about AI.
Actually, skeptical might be putting it lightly. There was a time when I would judge people for using it, especially for schoolwork and writing.
My thinking was simple: Why use AI when you have your own brain?
I thought relying on it meant people weren’t using their own ideas anymore. If AI was doing the writing, researching, or organizing for you, then what was the point?
Then something happened that made me question my own thinking.
Maybe I Was Looking at AI the Wrong Way
While studying, I noticed that some of my classmates who openly used AI were getting higher grades than I was.
Meanwhile, there I was, stubbornly doing everything myself because I wanted my work to be completely mine.
That bothered me at first.
But eventually, instead of criticizing them, I started asking myself a different question:
What if the problem isn’t using AI? What if it’s how we use it?
So I started experimenting with it.
And that’s when my perspective changed.
I realized AI didn’t necessarily have to replace my thinking. I could use it to organize my thinking.
That’s a very different thing.
I Still Want My Work to Sound Like Me
This became especially important with writing.
I’ve always wanted to write because, deep down, I knew I had stories to tell.
I’ve been writing for years. The problem was never that I didn’t have anything to say. I simply didn’t have enough confidence to put my writing out there.
I worried about my grammar. I worried about my sentence structure. I imagined people noticing every mistake instead of understanding what I was trying to say.
You know, the usual thoughts that come with putting yourself out there in a very judgmental world. LOL.
I Always Had a Story to Tell
That desire to express myself eventually led me to join Toastmasters. I didn’t only want to become a better writer; I also dreamed of becoming a motivational speaker. As an introvert, speaking in front of people was another fear I wanted to challenge.
I still remember one particular session. We were asked to prepare and deliver an impromptu speech about why we joined Toastmasters. This was years before I had AI helping me organize my words. It was just me, my thoughts, and whatever courage I could gather at that moment.
Afterward, one of the evaluators told me something I’ve never forgotten:
“I see potential in you. Keep speaking. Keep writing. You have a story to tell.”
Those words stayed with me. At a time when I was so conscious of my grammar, sentence structure, and ability to speak in front of people, someone saw potential in me and encouraged me to keep going.
It reminded me that being a good writer or speaker isn’t only about getting every word perfectly right. Sometimes, what matters most is having something genuine to say and finding the courage to share it.
And maybe that’s something other aspiring writers need to hear too: don’t let the fear of imperfect grammar or imperfect writing stop you from telling a story worth telling.
But There’s a Line I Don’t Want to Cross
This is where I think my original concern about AI still has some truth to it.
AI can make things so easy that eventually you might stop asking yourself what you actually think.
That’s something I don’t want.
I don’t want to type “Write me an opinion about this” and then adopt whatever comes back as my opinion.
I want to have the opinion first.
I don’t want AI deciding what happened in my story, what I learned from it, or how I felt.
I already know those things.
What I sometimes need help with is turning all of that into something another person can understand.
There’s an important difference.
What About Creativity?
This was another concern I had.
If writers start using AI, are we still writers?
I’m still figuring out my answer to that.
But I know that AI cannot experience my life for me.
It wasn’t there during the moments I write about.
It doesn’t know what a particular place meant to me unless I explain it.
It doesn’t know why something hurt, why something made me laugh, why a seemingly ordinary moment stayed in my memory, or why I suddenly had a realization while sitting alone somewhere.
I have to give it that.
And that’s why I don’t think using AI automatically removes creativity.
For me, the danger begins when I stop contributing myself.
If I give AI nothing but a topic and publish whatever it produces, then yes, I’d have a hard time calling that completely my writing.
But if I bring the experience, ideas, opinion, memories, photographs, research and messy first thoughts—and use AI to help me organize or polish them—I see it differently.
It’s a writing tool.
A very powerful one, but still a tool.
I Don’t Condemn People for Using AI Anymore
That’s probably the biggest change in my thinking.
I used to see AI use almost as cheating.
Now I think that’s too simplistic.
Of course, there are ways to misuse it. There are situations, especially in school or professional work, where rules about AI need to be respected. And blindly copying something you don’t understand isn’t suddenly a good idea because the technology is impressive.
But refusing to learn how to use AI isn’t necessarily better either.
The technology is here.
So I would rather learn how to use it responsibly than pretend it doesn’t exist.
And as someone who wants to continue writing, I’m actually grateful for what it has allowed me to do.
I’m publishing things I once would have kept sitting in my drafts because I was too worried about grammar or sentence structure.
The confidence to finally press Publish still has to come from me.
AI just helped remove one of the things that was stopping me.
You Have to Dictate AI
If there’s one thing I want to remember as AI becomes a bigger part of everyday life, it’s this:
You feed AI. Don’t let AI feed you.
Give it your ideas.
Give it your rough drafts.
Give it the thoughts you can’t quite organize.
Ask questions. Challenge the answer. Check facts. Rewrite things. Delete anything that doesn’t sound like you.
Use it to help you become better at what you’re already trying to do.
But don’t hand over your ability to think.
For writers especially, own your story.
Your imperfect first draft is worth something because it came from you.
Your experiences are worth something.
Your opinions are worth something.
Your voice is worth something.
Let AI help you structure them, polish them, and communicate them more clearly.
Just make sure that when someone reaches the final sentence, there’s still a human being behind the words.
~Teresa