This was SO good, I relate to everything. What Kinga said about feeling constantly self-conscious and unsure about your writing as a non-native English speaker is sooo real. But in general you can instantly tell when someone has used AI just for small tweaks the way you’d use a dictionary, versus when a piece has been completely generated from scratch (it’s either that cringey, overly exaggerated phrasing and forced smart language or it just feels completely flat and generic). I understand that people are trying to keep up with the lightning speed of everything, so I guess as readers we also need to show our support for the ones who take their time and do things more slowly. So yes Alice take this August hiatus pleaseee!! 🤍
I feel the same way, and I had a conversation with Lola a few weeks ago about posting frequency. Let’s be honest—there’s way too much content for a consumer to read it all—but of course I understand that everyone feels the pressure to post enough to provide value to their subscribers. But personally, I find there’s way more value in a Substack that evolves naturally and posts an article every two weeks than in those that rely on typical, overthought strategies.
Thanks for taking the time to read this dear, your support means a lot and also for sharing your own perspective and experience. I will definitely be checking out in August to give my brain some down time and then looking forward to coming to visit you in Paris for fw in the autumn 🤍
Loved reading your notes on this (and spotting my Note from June, ha)! What came to my mind for me while reading your thoughts and thinking along… I think what is most important and distinguishes person A from person B in using AI is having a critical mind and eye, and a strong familiarity with and development of an own voice. I think AI can be a helpful tool if you have those things, to use it as a sparring partner or to streamline your thoughts. But if you are still finding your voice and point of view, AI quickly turns into the tool that takes over from you in a way. And that’s when we start seeing generic texts that have no distinct voice and don’t actually sound like the people who “wrote” it.
And now that I think about this, I think long-form writing is also still fairly new for many fresh Substackers who maybe didn’t have a blog back in the day. Then of course AI can look like a very attractive tool to “help out” as well… and those writers might not actually realize how much their articles are polished to sound nothing like them at all.
I think for me the question isn’t necessarily whether AI is a friend or foe, because I think that depends on the person who uses it (how they use it). I think the foe here is the fact that people no longer try and practice their writing. Go through endless revisions of their texts. Leave it sitting for days to then pick it up and read through it again with fresh eyes. And this isn’t about writing per se, it’s about training your critical mind and working on your own point of view. Maybe in some cases, AI just exposes what isn’t there and THAT is why we (also) don’t enjoy reading some people’s articles..?
Leonie this is so SPOT ON and you’re so right about developing a voice and point of view that is the key difference. It personally took me along time, a lot of hard work, a lot of journalling by hand and building up confidence to find my own. It’s crazy but it is as if you just articulated perfectly my exact thoughts with this comment. Thank you for taking the time to reflect and share this <333
Excellent post about this topic. We all are interested to see how it’s going to work in this platform and AI. I agree with everything you said and as English being my second language, it does help me review parts where I know I’m not convinced. I use Grammarly which I think it’s less invasive than the other platform that they change everything and even your tone. That I do dislike, because it takes out the natural writing of people. Let’s see how this evolve!
Im very excited to see how it all evolves! How will we look back one now in say 5 years time ?! And heavily agree with you regarding tone and also especially humour for me… like I’m sorry but AI does not get humour. Most of all I want to thank you for reading ❤️
I've never used Grammarly before — I have to give it a try! And it's kind of reassuring to hear that we all struggle a bit or feel insecure about our English. I always think everyone else is super confident and fluent!
loved this open and honest conversation, and having an inside into your thoughts about AI. it's very helpful!! i'm feeling the same, and still use it as a spelling check, and sometimes ask it for suggestions for structure or if it aligns with my mission, or where i can be more clear; since i want to be of value to my audience. but lately i'm also feeling more annoyed by the suggestions, and just trusting my own writing, but in the beginning it definitely helped with some confidence as a new writer. also, i read this article yesterday, and thought i'm so behind with all the tools: https://on.substack.com/p/model-behavior-taylor-lorenz, but i also don't know if a process like that would be fun, and that's also important to me while creating
I love that you’re sharing your thoughts on your experience with AI. I guess at some point we all try out AI, but when it comes to writing, I feel like no one wants to talk about it. I think it’s totally natural that everyone is curious about it — and also kind of funny— since I feel like I’m going through a similar learning curve.
Like Alice, I think there’s nothing wrong with using AI to check your texts, mission, or strategy, for example, but the real magic happens when you just start writing and see how a text evolves.
Thanks for sharing the article — I am still not all the way through it but it’s a super interesting pov on Ai!
yess i agree, i love love the process of it, that you start and you don't know what will come through you in the moment, and it all slowly appears, that's indeed something AI can never replicate!
Thanks dear! I completely hear and feel you re: the confidence thing. It was the same for me in the beginning. And wow thank you for sharing that piece It looks so intriguing and I will be reading it asap. I wish we all lived in the same place so we could have meet ups and discuss things like this IRL would be so valuable 🤍
yesss that would be so nice!! <3 i've been going to a few conversation clubs with women lately, and something profound happens when women share their voices and thoughts with each other IRL <33
This was SO good, I relate to everything. What Kinga said about feeling constantly self-conscious and unsure about your writing as a non-native English speaker is sooo real. But in general you can instantly tell when someone has used AI just for small tweaks the way you’d use a dictionary, versus when a piece has been completely generated from scratch (it’s either that cringey, overly exaggerated phrasing and forced smart language or it just feels completely flat and generic). I understand that people are trying to keep up with the lightning speed of everything, so I guess as readers we also need to show our support for the ones who take their time and do things more slowly. So yes Alice take this August hiatus pleaseee!! 🤍
I feel the same way, and I had a conversation with Lola a few weeks ago about posting frequency. Let’s be honest—there’s way too much content for a consumer to read it all—but of course I understand that everyone feels the pressure to post enough to provide value to their subscribers. But personally, I find there’s way more value in a Substack that evolves naturally and posts an article every two weeks than in those that rely on typical, overthought strategies.
100% agree !! Quality over quantity 🫶🏻
Thanks for taking the time to read this dear, your support means a lot and also for sharing your own perspective and experience. I will definitely be checking out in August to give my brain some down time and then looking forward to coming to visit you in Paris for fw in the autumn 🤍
Loved reading your notes on this (and spotting my Note from June, ha)! What came to my mind for me while reading your thoughts and thinking along… I think what is most important and distinguishes person A from person B in using AI is having a critical mind and eye, and a strong familiarity with and development of an own voice. I think AI can be a helpful tool if you have those things, to use it as a sparring partner or to streamline your thoughts. But if you are still finding your voice and point of view, AI quickly turns into the tool that takes over from you in a way. And that’s when we start seeing generic texts that have no distinct voice and don’t actually sound like the people who “wrote” it.
And now that I think about this, I think long-form writing is also still fairly new for many fresh Substackers who maybe didn’t have a blog back in the day. Then of course AI can look like a very attractive tool to “help out” as well… and those writers might not actually realize how much their articles are polished to sound nothing like them at all.
I think for me the question isn’t necessarily whether AI is a friend or foe, because I think that depends on the person who uses it (how they use it). I think the foe here is the fact that people no longer try and practice their writing. Go through endless revisions of their texts. Leave it sitting for days to then pick it up and read through it again with fresh eyes. And this isn’t about writing per se, it’s about training your critical mind and working on your own point of view. Maybe in some cases, AI just exposes what isn’t there and THAT is why we (also) don’t enjoy reading some people’s articles..?
Leonie this is so SPOT ON and you’re so right about developing a voice and point of view that is the key difference. It personally took me along time, a lot of hard work, a lot of journalling by hand and building up confidence to find my own. It’s crazy but it is as if you just articulated perfectly my exact thoughts with this comment. Thank you for taking the time to reflect and share this <333
Excellent post about this topic. We all are interested to see how it’s going to work in this platform and AI. I agree with everything you said and as English being my second language, it does help me review parts where I know I’m not convinced. I use Grammarly which I think it’s less invasive than the other platform that they change everything and even your tone. That I do dislike, because it takes out the natural writing of people. Let’s see how this evolve!
Im very excited to see how it all evolves! How will we look back one now in say 5 years time ?! And heavily agree with you regarding tone and also especially humour for me… like I’m sorry but AI does not get humour. Most of all I want to thank you for reading ❤️
I know me too!
I've never used Grammarly before — I have to give it a try! And it's kind of reassuring to hear that we all struggle a bit or feel insecure about our English. I always think everyone else is super confident and fluent!
Try it, much better than all of the AI tools. We all struggle my friend 😘
❤️
loved this open and honest conversation, and having an inside into your thoughts about AI. it's very helpful!! i'm feeling the same, and still use it as a spelling check, and sometimes ask it for suggestions for structure or if it aligns with my mission, or where i can be more clear; since i want to be of value to my audience. but lately i'm also feeling more annoyed by the suggestions, and just trusting my own writing, but in the beginning it definitely helped with some confidence as a new writer. also, i read this article yesterday, and thought i'm so behind with all the tools: https://on.substack.com/p/model-behavior-taylor-lorenz, but i also don't know if a process like that would be fun, and that's also important to me while creating
I love that you’re sharing your thoughts on your experience with AI. I guess at some point we all try out AI, but when it comes to writing, I feel like no one wants to talk about it. I think it’s totally natural that everyone is curious about it — and also kind of funny— since I feel like I’m going through a similar learning curve.
Like Alice, I think there’s nothing wrong with using AI to check your texts, mission, or strategy, for example, but the real magic happens when you just start writing and see how a text evolves.
Thanks for sharing the article — I am still not all the way through it but it’s a super interesting pov on Ai!
yess i agree, i love love the process of it, that you start and you don't know what will come through you in the moment, and it all slowly appears, that's indeed something AI can never replicate!
Thanks dear! I completely hear and feel you re: the confidence thing. It was the same for me in the beginning. And wow thank you for sharing that piece It looks so intriguing and I will be reading it asap. I wish we all lived in the same place so we could have meet ups and discuss things like this IRL would be so valuable 🤍
yesss that would be so nice!! <3 i've been going to a few conversation clubs with women lately, and something profound happens when women share their voices and thoughts with each other IRL <33
The dream 💘💘💘
not using satc imagery is the authentication i look for o this platform.
If you don’t like it you don’t have to look at it 🤍
Im kidding , its a timeless classic that always work!!
Anyway, we really enjoyed creating this!
It was so fun! Gave me life
hope there is more where thatt came from