AI writing tools promise speed and effortless results, but do they actually make your writing better? Or do they take away the friction that makes writing meaningful?

In this course, we’ll explore what happens when you hand your writing over to AI too soon—and how to instead use it in a way that makes your work clearer, stronger, and still fully yours.

I’m Jacob Magnell: writer, designer, creator, and teacher here on Skillshare. I’ve spent years experimenting with AI in my own writing practice. My admin emails? Gone. But for real writing, the kind that requires thinking, refining, and shaping ideas, I found that giving AI too much control leads to generic, forgettable text.

This course is about finding a better way. You’ll learn:

What goes wrong when you let AI “take over” your writing too early
A process for using AI to support, not replace your own ideas
How to use AI to edit and clarify your work without losing your voice
Why friction in writing isn’t a problem, but the key to creating thoughtful, original work

Together, we’ll run experiments with AI at different stages of the writing process. You’ll compare results, see where quality is lost or gained, and discover how much time you actually save. By the end, you’ll have a practical framework for using AI as a creative partner, without giving up ownership of your words.

Articles referenced in this course:

What happens when we turn over too much control to AI when writing? This study from MIT explores that question.

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/your-brain-on-chatgpt/overview/

Are we actually becoming more productive using generative AI?

https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.09089

Fleur Thijssen

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