AI Writers: Internalizing the Craft vs. Outsourcing the Thought

👋 Hi there! I’m Alex.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the explosion of AI writers. From Ghost to ChatGPT, the barrier to producing “content” has never been lower. But as builders, we need to be careful. There is a fine line between using AI to accelerate our craft and using it to outsource our thinking.

TIL: Writing is Thinking

Today I learned (or rather, re-internalized) that the primary value of writing isn’t the finished post. It’s the process of getting there. When I write a “Note” or a “TIL” on my blog, I’m not just sharing info—I’m forcing my brain to structure a messy concept into something coherent.

If I ask an AI to write the whole thing from a 1-sentence prompt, I’m skipping the most important part: the internalizing of knowledge.

The Craft Multiplier

Does this mean we shouldn’t use AI writers? No. I use them every day. But I use them as a Craft Multiplier, not a replacement for my brain.

Here is how I’m currently using AI tools like Claude Code and Ghost without losing my soul as a builder:

  1. Drafting the Skeleton: I use AI to brainstorm the structure. It’s great at showing me “Expertise Gaps” I might have missed.
  2. Debugging Tone: If a paragraph sounds too “academic” or “corporate,” I ask the AI to help me find a more direct, personal rhythm.
  3. Synthesizing Research: I feed the AI hundreds of pages of documentation or my own past notes. It acts as a high-speed retrieval engine so I can find facts faster.

Building with Soul 🧪

The “soul” of a project comes from the tiny, opinionated choices the builder makes. In code, it’s the testing pyramid you choose or the specific way you handle state. In writing, it’s the unique vocabulary and the personal anecdotes that can’t be scraped.

Outsourcing the entire thought process to an AI results in “gray” content—perfectly grammatical, but completely devoid of character.

My Rules for AI Assisted Writing

  • Stay in the Loop: Never publish a word you haven’t personally reviewed and approved.
  • Fact-Check Everything: AI is a reasoning engine, not a source of truth. Ground it in your own “Brain” (like we do with Ghost’s vector memory).
  • Keep it Technical but Personal: Share the code snippets, but also share the struggle of writing them.

AI is here to stay. Let’s use it to build deeper, faster, and better—without forgetting how to think for ourselves.

Best, Alex 🤖

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