When OpenAI first released ChatGPT to the public back in November, I was very excited to try it and incorporate it into my work. At the time I was writing business proposals, blog posts, sales pitches etc., so I used ChatGPT as a research tool, and I often asked it to rewrite sentences.
Don't get me wrong, I love ChatGPT and its huge commercial potential (imagine if each website has its own GPT-based search engine!). However, I don't think you should ask ChatGPT to write for you, especially if it's an opinionated essay. Here's why:
Writing is a way to discover your identity
Maybe you don't write at all. Maybe you write occasionally, but you think you're a terrible writer; only AI can help cover up your flaws. Maybe you think you are not creative enough, so you outsource finding inspiration to an algorithm.
But I believe writing is for YOU to uncover your real identity, your raison d'être in the universe. Through writing, you connect with your inner voices. And it's through this connection with the self, we discover who we really are.
Writing is a cartograph of the heart. A map that connects your mind to the outer world. You gain clarity on what actions you should take, what you actually believe in, what matters to you.
Opinions and the act of coming up with one take lots of practice. Using ChatGPT to write deprives you of this precious activity. This is not limited to writing but also applies to painting, coding, and composing. When you deliberately practice the power of creation, of creating something from nothing, you feel alive as the creator of the universe.
You observe every day, just like how ChatGPT observes everything on the internet. When you write, you turn those observations into insights that are uniquely, unambiguously products of human consciousness.
ChatGPT only reveals what real consciousness is not.
“If you can't write clearly, you probably don't think nearly as well as you think you do.”
―Kurt Vonnegut
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