I had a different essay I wanted to publish today on how I'm using AI in my writing process.

But after about an hour & 25 edits it wasn’t coming together. So I stopped & asked WHY?

And a flood of existential questions just flowed out of me.

So welcome to todays essay. We're I have no answers only questions:

• Can we really use AI to write for us and then pass it off as our own?

• If my audience knew that AI wrote this would they feel cheated by me?

• If I found out something I read was produced by AI would I feel cheated?

• How do I use AI and still feel deeply connected to my writing?

• Is writing just a commodity now?

• Where do ideas really come from? If I'm the one wielding the tool is it me who is essentially generating the ideas or am just a passive observer.

• Can I train AI to think like me? So it becomes an extension of me, an external part of me?

• If the idea didn't generate in my brain is it really mine to write?

• Is it the tool that is smart or the person using the tool?

• Am I afraid that mediocre writers will use it to write & grow an audience that they didn't 'earn'?

• Did people feel the same about other leaps in technology?

• Who owns the copy/copywrite that AI produces?

• Do ideas feel more 'mine' when I have fought for them rather than just being generated in seconds?

• Will my brain get dull because AI will take over the parts that keep me sharp like discovering knowledge & connecting ideas?

• Or will I evolve into something even more powerful?

I’m not here to answer the questions or sit in judgement. I’m just here in the awkward messy middle of wrestling with my thoughts. And that’s OK.