Writing with AI
What changes when AI enters the writing process — and what to do about it.
We write with AI. Not in spite of our values — because of them. AI can make us better writers, better thinkers, better at checking our work. It can also let us skip the thinking entirely and put our name on something we don’t understand. The difference is in the process, not the tool.
Every time we hand part of the writing process to AI, something changes — even when the final text looks the same. We call these moments handoffs: points where a function moves from you to the machine, and where responsibility, learning, and control change shape.1
Handoffs
What changes when AI enters each part of the writing process, why it matters, and what to do about it.
Tools
What we use and what we recommend — our own tools and others’.
Disclaimer Templates
Context-specific language for disclosing AI use in your writing.
FAQ
Edge cases, gray zones, policy questions, and collaboration guidance.
What you can do today
Ask yourself, honestly, whether your use of AI is improving or diminishing each of these four handoffs:
Understanding
Is AI helping you think, or thinking for you?
Can you explain it without the text in front of you? If not, you haven’t done the work yet.
Verification
Are you checking claims more carefully, or less?
Did you check the facts independently, or did you trust the model’s confidence?
Transparency
Can your reader see enough of the process to calibrate trust?
Does your reader know what they need to know?
Integrity
When your name is on it, are the values that authorship protects still being served?
Will you take responsibility for the process — and not use AI as an excuse when something goes wrong?
These aren’t rules. They’re questions that keep you honest — and that keep the writing process doing what it’s supposed to do.