I still remember the first time I wrote with AI.
I stared at the screen, waiting for it to spit out something profound. The blinking cursor wrote an entire section of a blog post before I had the time to say, “This sucks.”
It churned out the most generic garbage I’d ever seen.
If this was what people were calling the future of writing… then we were all screwed.
But then it hit me. I saw writers like Jon Morrow write kickass content with AI.
So AI wasn’t the problem. It was my input.
Fast forward, I’ve spent over 200 hours writing prompts and written half a million words with it.
Here’s what I learned.
1. AI is not a replacement
AI is not here to replace you as a writer.
If you think it can, I’ve got news for you—your work was probably pretty damn useless to begin with.
Instead, I like to think of AI as a series of 10 new arms sprouting from your body. (Weird mental image, I know.)
But these extra limbs don’t make decisions for you or come up with brilliant ideas. They simply help you execute faster.
So if you’re worried AI will make writers obsolete, take a deep breath. Unless your writing is as bland and generic as a corporate memo, you’re safe.
2. The shitty first draft will still be shitty
The first draft is the hardest part of writing.
You struggle with:
- Writer’s block
- Perfectionism
- Imposter syndrome
- Typos all over the place
- And your ideas are blurry
AI can help you speed up the process and write a draft for you. Simply prompt it with your idea, and it will crank out a whole paragraph.
Now, will that draft be perfect? Heck no.
But that’s not the point. The point is to get you where you want, faster.
You always want to edit AI-generated content to make sure:
- It sounds like you
- It reflects your ideas
- and it’s free of lies and hallucinations.
Crap is easier to edit than air.
3. If your output sucks, you’re the sucker
If you’re using AI and your writing still comes out sounding like a drunk monkey banging on a keyboard, the problem isn’t the AI.
It’s you.
Many top writers spit on AI. They say that it’ll never replace human writing. That it’s impersonal, yada, yada, yada.
Truth is, they never spent the time to get good at writing prompts.
If your output sucks, it’s because either one of these sucks:
- Your prompts
- Your headline and outline
AI is a robot. And as the coding saying goes: “garbage in, garbage out.”
If your thoughts are foggy, guess what? The AI’s output will be just as cloudy.
So if you’re not happy with what the AI is giving you, it’s time to look in the mirror. Sharpen your ideas. Clarify your message. Get brutally honest about what you’re really trying to say.
And this usually takes… guess what? Some good ol’ writing.
I always start with a headline and get clear about my outline. What exactly do I want to say? That’s the foundation of any good piece.
Then only, do I pass it over to AI.
4. AI ideas stink like rotten fish
I see many writers brainstorming ideas with AI.
I don’t.
Because ideas generated by AI are the same all across the board.
The reason?
AI is a prediction machine. Nothing else.
It can’t think. It can only predict text based on calculations. So it can only regurgitate existing information.
That’s why AI-generated ideas are so “predictable.”
I use AI every day to write. But I prompt it with my ideas first. I don’t ask it to come up with an article idea and then write the damn piece for me.
For example, when I’m writing about writing with AI (a bit meta, I know), I don’t ask the AI for general tips. Instead, I’ll input my own earned insights from actually doing the work.
The AI then helps me expand on that idea, but the core insight—the thing that makes the content interesting—comes from me.
If you don’t use your brain to come up with ideas, stories, and personal insights…
No AI can help you.
5. AI won’t help you save time
LOL.
AI isn’t always about saving time—it’s about saving mental bandwidth.
Sure, I can crank out content faster now. But that’s not the real game-changer. The big shift is not being mentally exhausted after a writing session.
Before AI, I’d finish a solid writing morning with my brain feeling like overcooked spaghetti. Creative juices? Completely tapped out. The thought of writing one more word would make me want to hurl my laptop out the window.
Now? I wrap up my writing and still have enough mental energy to tackle other tasks. Heck, sometimes I even have creative ideas left over.
This extra bandwidth is worth its ounce of gold when creating content.
It’s allowed me to expand my content output across different platforms, experiment with new formats, and even find new course ideas to explore—all without feeling like I’m running on fumes.
Content creation is not a game of time—but a game of bandwidth.
And in my book, everything that saves me bandwidth is worth its weight in gold (or at least in overpriced AI software subscriptions).
6. AI helps you think better (and faster)
Good writing is a game of iteration.
You start with a rough idea, put it on paper, then refine it. You move things around. Start with the second paragraph. Delete the fluff and move it over.
Rinse and repeat until it shines.
AI allows you to do this faster.
When I prompt AI with my initial thoughts, I get instant feedback. Within seconds, I can see if my ideas hold water or not.
This rapid feedback loop gives me more room to think about my ideas.
It allows me to iterate on my thoughts faster. I can explore different angles, test various arguments, and refine my message in the time it used to take me to outline a single article.
That’s where most people get lazy.
They bend to what AI spits out. Don’t do it. Analyze it, question it, and use it to push your thinking further. It’s a tool for refining your ideas, not replacing them.
7. Great writers are great thinkers (& not necessarily great typers.)
Typing is a cheap skill.
Don’t waste your time trying to out-type a machine. It’s like challenging Usain Bolt to a sprint—you’re setting yourself up for humiliation.
Great writing isn’t about how fast you can hammer out words. It’s about the quality of your thoughts.
Use the time and bandwidth you save to focus on what really matters:
- Thinking deeply
- Finding unique insights
- And developing original ideas
- Do something far away from a screen (so that you have cool stories to share.)
In my years of content creation, I’ve learned that the most valuable part of writing happens before you even touch the keyboard. It’s the time spent pondering, observing, and connecting dots in new ways.
Read more. Observe more. Experiment more. Then feed those juicy insights to your AI writing partner.
Thinking > Typing.
8. AI is an amplifier
AI is like a megaphone for your skills (or lack thereof.)
If you’re a rockstar writer, AI will crank your awesomeness up to 11. But if you’re mediocre? Well, it’ll just make your mediocrity louder and more obvious.
You still need to learn the basics and master them.
If you don’t know what makes good writing, AI won’t magically fix that. It’s not a “good writing” fairy that sprinkles quality dust on your words. It’s more like a mirror, reflecting your own abilities back at you.
If you can’t string together a coherent sentence or develop a compelling argument, AI isn’t your savior. It’s just going to amplify your confusion.
It’s the same garbage you see everywhere with “prompts.”
If you just rely on prompts but have no clue what you’re doing or how the prompt has been engineered, then you’re a slave.
Don’t just rely on prompts. Build your skills.
I have a ton of courses around creating content with AI.
But I don’t sell standalone prompts.
Instead, I focus on also teaching the fundamentals.
- How to think critically.
- How to structure arguments.
- How to find your unique voice.
- What makes good content (and what makes bad content).
Then, and only then, do we bring in the AI.
Before you use AI to write, make sure you’ve got something worth amplifying.
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