Words, Words, Words

My friend J— wrote to me after she had two unsettling experiences with AI. She knows I use AI and wanted my thoughts.

Her first experience was positive: she asked ChatGPT for a nonrhyming poem about the need for housing abundance, and what AI produced was stunning—good enough to read aloud at a talk and move people. The final line, “We only have to say yes,” surprised J— with its resonance, especially given that her housing justice work uses the acronym YIMBY: Yes in My Backyard.

Then came J—’s second experience. She wrote a blog for her organization, which the communications team edited using AI. While J—’s original emphasized collective effort and shared purpose, the rewrite prioritized the outcome (an election win) over the process. AI also stripped J—’s tone and carefully chosen words. The piece no longer felt like hers.

J— always asks insightful questions. She wondered, what does authorship mean when machines can write? What is the editor’s role if an algorithm can edit?

I tried to respond with balance. The poem was impressive and perfect for J—’s purpose. But at its heart, the poem was a collage of patterns the machine has seen before. Even if AI gathers what others have said and rearranges it convincingly, that isn’t the same as voice, invention, creativity. Still, machine writing can serve a purpose, and in this case, it did.

The article rewrite felt different—to both of us. AI overwrote and changed what J— had written without her having a choice. The editing was imposed on her. She might have agreed to some, though not all, of the changes had she been asked.

I believe editing should be collaborative, even when AI is involved. I use AI to rearrange disorganized content, untangle messy sentences, and sometimes line edit. This saves my clients time and money. But I carefully review AI’s work to be sure that author voice, style, and meaning are retained. AI produces a draft (as it did for this blog). I, the human, work to respect and preserve the author’s word choice and intention.

People should not pretend AI’s work is their own, so I showed J— how to cite AI for the poem. Nor should people use AI to edit without informing the author and retaining themselves as the so-called human in the loop. This is very important. Of course we want to use the tools available to us, but we must use them openly and honestly. Otherwise, we risk the relationships that are at the heart of what we seek to build through words and writing.