Writing: How Much AI assistance is okay?
English isn't my native language. Putting ideas into words sometimes takes me a considerable amount of time. Even then, my sentences can come out sounding awkward.
That's when I found out ChatGPT is quite a good editor. I use it to help refine my writing. I feed it paragraphs, and it polishes them or suggests different phrasings. Sometimes I stick with my original version, sometimes I tweak a sentence or two, and occasionally, I use the entirely rephrased paragraph it suggests.
But is this cheating?
I'm not really sure how to feel about it. On one hand, it seems a bit hypocritical: I aim for this website to contribute to a more human internet, one that steers clear of the kind of low-quality AI content often referred to as "AI slop."
On the other hand I'm only using AI as a tool. All the ideas are mine, all the points and how I arrange them are mine. I'm using ChatGPT to make my writing clearer and better understandable. I'm not a poet or a novelist. For me, it's all about the clarity of the ideas, and I maintain full control over that aspect.
Also, spending less time on tinkering on sentences allows me to publish more, to get more of my ideas out there, which could help me connect with like-minded people. On the other hand, I see that if I'll overdo it, my writing skills might atrophy – and also, I would kind of lose my writing voice... however awkward it is.
Woah, I'm really really torn. If you have insights or an opinion on this, please get in touch – everything that helps me gain clarity in the matter is greatly appreciated.