I'm Begging You: Never Write with A.I

The central plea is to keep artificial intelligence out of writing - not only from personal or important work, but also from routine emails, notes and office memos. The objection is not mainly that AI-assisted writing is always dishonest: disclosure can address deception, and machines may soon write better than people. The deeper danger is that outsourcing words weakens the mental habits writing develops. Formulating a thought, making it coherent and exposing it to others’ scrutiny require effort; that effort builds clarity, accuracy and accountability. Machine-generated eloquence cannot replace the intention behind a father’s wedding toast, and even mundane writing exercises the same skills needed for consequential expression.

The argument extends from individual ability to culture and democracy. Regular writing helps people become more capable thinkers and creators, while declining literacy makes it harder to assess arguments or advocate for oneself. The column cites an analysis of 100 doctoral dissertations in which 56 percent contained more than negligible AI-generated writing and 19 percent had over half their text generated by AI, alongside professors’ concerns about student papers. Treating this as mere cheating misses the broader risk: a population that increasingly avoids reading and writing may lose the capacity for independent judgment and self-government. Writing one’s own brief messages, even when automated replies would be faster, is presented as a small act of personal agency and resistance to intellectual decline.