I remember the first time I spoke out loud alone in the car, “Ok Google, send a message to…” (Yes, I’m an Android user; Siri and I don’t talk anymore). I might be showing my age, but saying those words made me feel like Michael Knight from the show Knight Rider. There was a time when AI was something you only saw in spy movies or read about in science fiction novels and was beyond the average person’s reach. Fast forward to today, and AI is not just in our phones but in our day-to-day routines. Generative AI, the subset of AI that can create content such as text, images, videos, audio, or software code, allows us to create content in a fraction of the time. With the amount of content created by AI (and a lot of it passing as human-created) becoming so pervasive, the Authors Guild recently unveiled a human-authored seal of authenticity. In their words, it is a certification that “…provides authors a way to distinguish their work in an increasingly AI-saturated market.” This concept of a human-authored seal would have been inconciebable five years ago, and I believe it shows the speed at which content creation is evolving. With this rapid evolution comes a challenge: Are we at risk of losing our unique voice in the creative process? I believe so.
Who Are We Engaging With?
Content creation is incredibly personal, as it generates from our very unique worldview. Just as I put my unique style into the music I create, my writing reflects the essence of who I am, the amalgamation of my experiences, and the sum of my skill and experience in the craft at the time the content is created. Much like in playing an instrument, the more I write, the more I hone in on my voice, perfect my craft, and become more efficient at communicating my message in that particular medium. There are no shortcuts to this process. Try as I may, a machine cannot be a substitute for the process of perfecting my craft. Even with all this, letting ChatGPT write for us is very tempting. In minutes, we can provide a prompt to generate anything from a LinkedIn post to a full-blown article that otherwise would have taken an exponentially greater effort to write. I once heard someone say that when we read a book, we engage in a conversation with its author. While I believe this to be the case for any created content, I also believe that this is more so in the written form. So when a machine does the writing for you, who is your reader engaging with: you or the AI model?
Striking a Balance: AI As The Enabler
I’m not a GenAI naysayer. I use AI-enabled tools almost daily, accelerating many tasks I perform day in and day out. As a non-native English speaker, I rely on AI-enabled grammar tools to remind me of the correct use of “in” and “on” since Spanish, my native language, makes no such distinction. But while GenAI-enabled tools do help in the content creation process, an overreliance on their use runs the risk of diluting our creative process and replacing our unique voice with a lifeless machine-generated one instead. I believe it is crucial to learn how to strike a balance and make a distinction; otherwise, before we know it, I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that we may end up consuming machine-generated content without even realizing it or caring. David McCullough is known to have said, “Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That is why it is so hard.” That’s the whole point and why we should force ourselves through the process of doing it. Our voice is unique, and those around us should hear it.
Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That is why it is so hard
The Irreplaceable Human Voice
In the end, while GenAI has undoubtedly redefined the way we create content, it is our voice that makes us unique. A machine cannot replicate the unique way we tell our stories, gather our thoughts, and express our opinions. Writing is more than just an arrangement of words in the perfect way to get the most likes or impressions. It is the articulation of our thoughts, the expression of our personalities, and the sharing of the experiences only humans can offer and share. Writing is engaging with others in a conversation that transcends our stay in this world. When I read David Copperfield (part of my 2025 reading challenge), I engage in a conversation with Charles Dickens. He tells me how he saw the world in mid-19th-century England. In the process, in his very unique style and voice, he conveys the socio-economic challenges of the times and gives me a peek at how life was then. Again, I get to talk to him as I read his timeless novel. Could GenAI have written David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, or Tale of Two Cities (please ignore the Dickens fix I’m currently in) with the unique Dickensian voice? I don’t think so. Dickens wrote out of his own struggles, experiences, and triumphs and poured all this into his writings. The same goes for Dante, Alexander Dumas, Victor Hugo, Tolstoy, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen, Dorothy Sayers, and so many others. Their voice is unique, which makes their work unique.
Engaging In The Conversation
In a world where GenAI is rapidly evolving, I believe it is our responsibility to ensure we do not lose sight of what makes us human. Only our voice can create the meaningful connections that are at the core of the human experience. Next time you are tempted to let GenAI do the writing for you, even if it is for a simple LinkedIn post, stop, take a moment to think, struggle, and go through the writing process. Your unedited and unfiltered voice is worth hearing because it is unmistakably yours.