Observations on Writing with AI
Автор размышляет о попытках писать с помощью ИИ за 16 лет ведения блога: он читал книги о письме, нанимал редактора, файнтюнил модели под свой голос и тестировал более 10 ИИ-систем. У каждой модели свой характер: Gemini излучает солнечный свет, Claude томный, но острый, OpenAI Codex — самый бесстрастный. Эксперимент с «редакционным советом» из Gemini, Claude и OpenAI Codex провалился: три модели не смогли договориться о едином тоне и выдали резкий вердикт вроде «разговор за тремя пивом, ошибочно принятый за готовое эссе». В эпоху, когда ИИ синтезирует тексты, изображения и видео, аутентичность проявляется в несовершенстве: треск винила, солнечные блики на Kodachrome, неидеальные аналогии и пунктуационные причуды. Именно эти несовершенства и делают письмо хорошим.
As I was paging through Good Writing, Anne Lamott’s new book, I wondered what AI would say about twisting cliches & finding hidden metaphors (chapters 18 & 19).
Over the last 16 years of writing, I’ve read books about writing, hired an editor, & used AI. I’ve fine-tuned models to mimic my voice, tested more than 10 AI systems, & written many post with AI, with some Hindenburgs I’ve kept public as proof despite my embarrassment.
Writing is hard for AI. First, AI has its own voice : Gemini beams sunshine ; Claude’s is languid but sharp ; & OpenAI Codex is the most dispassionate. Writing in another voice is hard for people & AI.
So writing with a single model doesn’t work. What about an AI editorial council? The concept shines with code review. Why not blog review?
At my fourth draft, I asked Gemini, Claude, & OpenAI Codex to edit my work with each other. The result wasn’t an elegant mosaic but a fingerpaint disaster. Each model had its own voice. Like three editors with three visions of the piece, the AI models couldn’t agree on a consistent tone or style.
And each is willing to deliver it directly, casually cruel in the name of being an editor.
Eg, this post:
Verdict. This is a three-beer conversation mistaken for a finished essay. Pick one angle : the Lamott meditation, or the AI choir experiment, or the vinyl-flare theory. Develop it with specifics, quotes, images. As written, it’s 500 words of intelligent observation without a single indelible sentence.
…imagine that daily farrago in triplicate.
AI’s ability to synthesize images, video, text means anything can be created. What’s authentic? Imperfection.
The pops of a vinyl record, the solar flare on Kodachrome film, the imperfect analogy and the punctuation peccadilloes (lovers of ampersands, unite!), stand out.
AI may generate digital reams of manuals & documentation, & may one day parrot the way we write authentically. But the imperfections of writing are what make it good writing.