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How to Keep Your Writing Weird in the Age of AI
AI takes what's specific and makes it general. It takes what's wrinkly and makes it smooth.
Katie Parrott • How to Keep Your Writing Weird in the Age of AI
I wanted it to do the opposite
The key to working with your timid scribe is understanding its strengths and limitations. My experience with AI so far has shown me that AI is brilliant at:
- Pulling out ideas I didn't know I had (by asking me smart questions)
- Creating structure from my scattered thoughts
- Remembering all the context and examples I've shared
- Generating options when I
Katie Parrott • How to Keep Your Writing Weird in the Age of AI
The trick is recognizing when you're smoothing away confusion versus character.
When it’s producing text, AI pulls everything toward the statistical center. Sometimes the center is exactly where you want to be. But sometimes the edges are where the interesting stuff lives.
When it’s producing text, AI pulls everything toward the statistical center. Sometimes the center is exactly where you want to be. But sometimes the edges are where the interesting stuff lives.
Katie Parrott • How to Keep Your Writing Weird in the Age of AI
Polish is an act of taste
Now that anyone with a prompt window can generate professional-sounding text, the ability to go beyond that and produce something that resists statistical prediction becomes more valuable, not less.
Katie Parrott • How to Keep Your Writing Weird in the Age of AI
The key to working with your timid scribe is understanding its strengths and limitations. My experience with AI so far has shown me that AI is brilliant at:
- Pulling out ideas I didn't know I had (by asking me smart questions)
- Creating structure from my scattered thoughts
- Remembering all the context and examples I've shared
- Generating options when I'm s