AI makes me a better writer–but not in the way you think

I’m an AI consultant.

I use AI pretty much all day every day.In fact, the only time I’m not using AI is when I’m writing on Medium.

This is the space where I think without robots.

It feels good to write on here, in a sort of simple and uncluttered way. No tabs to toggle, or prompts to refine, or outputs to review. Just me and my mind, enjoying the quiet, having a chat.

Of course, it wasn’t always quiet.

Our brains are rather unprotected, if you think about it.

At any given moment, there might be a Netflix show, a LinkedIn post, a yelling child, a crumpled flyer, a magazine cover, and an Apple Watch notification all vying for your attention at once — and that’s just in your living room.

All this stuff flies right through your ears and eyes and nerves and piles into your brain a wrinkled heap, mismatched thoughts like mismatched socks, waiting to be sorted.

Even if we manage to stay focused on one thing, portions of our subconscious are always sorting through tasks, threats, ideas, feelings, and more.

We’re overloaded. Our brains are tired.

I can write on a tired brain — it’s a skill I’ve developed over many late nights.

But it’s not my best writing, because it’s not my best thinking.

If I want to write better, I need to think better. And if I want to think better, I need to let my brain rest sometimes.

That’s where AI comes in.

AI has helps me improve my writing because it lightens my everyday cognitive load.

Simply put, it makes my life easier.

If I have to send a tricky email, AI can help me get the tone right so I don’t have to spend an hour laboring over every point.

If I have to draft a proposal, AI can double-check that my scope of work covers all aspects of the project.

There are a thousand examples. Market research is faster, so I can understand my client’s industry faster, so I can advise them more effectively, so we can all reach our goals in less time with less effort.

All that energy spent writing emails, or confirming scope, or verifying research, can now be put to better use.

I have more space in my brain, and more energy to use it.

My thinking is better.

Better thinking means better writing.

AI feels a bit like…a house manager for my mind. It’s an expert executive assistant silently sweeping up my thoughts, processing messages, planning ahead and generally making it easier for me to exist.

And when they leave work for the day, and it’s just me, my space is quieter. Files are in folders. Final edits are done. And I can relax.

In that uncluttered space, I can read and think and write without tripping over everything else.

Oddly, the more I use AI, the more time I have to think human thoughts and write them in human words.

Thanks, robot friends :)