*partial potential podcast script*

Hey everyone, and welcome back to the podcast. Today we're talking about AI writing tools. And
before you click away because you think this is me trying to fear-monger that "the robots are taking over" rant, it's not, I promise. I use AI writing tools quite a bit, and I suspect that you probably use AI writing tools too. They're everywhere, and honestly? Sometimes they're pretty helpful.
But here's the thing, and this is what we really need to talk about today. There's a huge difference between using a tool and letting a tool use you.
I've noticed, both in myself and in talking to other writers, students, and creators, that the more we rely on AI to do our writing for us, the more we start to lose something really important. That creative spark. That unique voice. That thing that makes YOUR writing... yours.
So let's dive into the cons of AI writing: not the sci-fi, Isaac Asimov version, but the real, right-now problems that are affecting how we think, create, and communicate.
Part 1: Creative Atrophy
Alright, first up: the creativity muscle.
Think about it this way - if you had a robot that could do push-ups for you, would your arms get
stronger? Obviously not, right? Your robot would have jacked arms (let’s pretend that’s possible, just so we can have some fun with this), and you'd still be struggling to open a pickle jar.
The same thing happens with writing. When you consistently outsource the creative heavy lifting to AI, your brain stops doing the work. And creativity is a muscle in that, the more you use it, the
stronger it gets. The less you use it, the weaker it becomes.
Remember when you used to sit down with a blank page and, after some initial struggle, ideas would start flowing? Maybe not great ideas at first, but they were YOUR ideas. When you get too dependent on AI, that ability deteriorates. You sit down, the page is blank, and instead of pushing through that discomfort and finding your own angle, your first instinct is: "I'll just ask ChatGPT to get me started."
And sure, it gets you started. But it gets you started with SOMEONE ELSE'S ideas. Well, not even
someone else's. It's giving you the statistical average of how millions of people have approached similar topics.
This brings us to a huge problem: originality. AI writing tools are fundamentally backward-looking.
They're trained on existing content, which means they're really, really good at producing things that sound like everything that's already been written.
Think about your favorite writers, creators, or thinkers. What makes them special? It'
s usually their unique perspective, their weird connections, their ability to see things differently. That's not something AI can replicate because AI doesn't HA VE perspective. It just goes off the patterns it recognizes. It’s great for spotting trends and making predictions, but horrible for personal reflection.

When you lean on AI too heavily, your work starts to sound... smooth. Polished. And completely
forgettable. It's like the writing equivalent of elevator music - technically fine, but utterly lacking in
personality.
I started noticing this in my own work. I'd use AI to "help" with a rough draft, and the final piece
would be fine - coherent, well-structured, checked all the boxes. But when I read it back, I couldn't hear my own quirky author voice. It was like looking at a photo of yourself where the filter has smoothed away everything that makes your face your face. And yet, some of the most creative ideas I've ever had came from that struggling period during the writing process. From writing terrible first drafts. From getting stuck and having to think my way out of it. AI short-circuits that entire process.