Why I Refuse to Let AI Write My Next Book
In a Nutshell
The speaker refuses to let AI write their next book because they want to preserve their cognitive abilities and unique voice, even though powerful AI writing tools now exist. Their defense against AI-generated content is reputation, especially when writing about lived experience rather than abstract ideas. The core message is that while AI can produce books in 48 hours, the value of authentic, long-form writing rooted in personal experience remains irreplaceable.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
The siren song, the temptation to use AI for almost everything is so strong. The speaker is working on a new book and refuses to use AI to write for them because if they do that, they are done. AI is too good at writing. The speaker uses AI for version control and comparing edits, which can produce graphic overviews for printing and review. AI can do tremendous things, but if you want to retain a cognitive ability or function, be very careful about what you outsource.
There are elegant pieces of code called harnesses that sit on top of AI and turbocharge it to do special things. There is a new harness released recently just for writers. If you thought Claude or ChatGPT was really good at helping you write, this harness will be significantly more powerful. The company Every released a package for coders called compound engineering, and now they have one for writers. You can search for Every compound engineering writer harness to find it. You install it into your ChatGPT or Claude, and it will write the book for you.
The speaker states that even with these advanced AI tools, they do not think they are done as a writer because of reputation. The mode of defense is reputation. Books are becoming harder and harder to sell as a viable format of media. In the past, when writing books, there was concern about ideas leaking out and being front-run by others. Now, if someone leaked a copy of the next book, they could rewrite the entire thing and have it published and printed in 48 hours. The defense is reputation. If you are writing about the realm of ideas, that is going to be a hard game to play. If you are writing about lived experience, then there is more defensibility.
The speaker has decided they would rather write this book right now. The book is 80% of the way there and has been worked on for a long time. In a way, the speaker has been waiting for the technology to catch up so they could make the point they wanted to make. The argument is that this is not a 1% problem but a 99% problem, and the tools are also available to 99% of people. Everyone is drowning in messages across iMessage, WhatsApp, two email addresses, DMs, Slack channels, and everything else. The speaker could not have made this argument as well 6 years ago. The speaker tests whether writing is 100% AI written, and if so, it gets automatically archived.
The speaker would rather write a book for 10,000 people than do short form videos for 10 million who forget it 10 seconds later. The speaker wants to share one piece of long form content for people who can still digest it. There is a speech called Personal Renewal by John Gardner, delivered to McKinsey & Company in November 1990. The speaker found this transcript and it is exceptional, full of gems about personal renewal and continual learning throughout life. An audio version can be found by searching Personal Renewal John Gardner.
The speech addresses the myth that learning is for young people and provides examples of renewal. One example involves a man who was 53 years old. Most of his adult life had been a losing struggle against debt and misfortune. In military service, he received a battlefield injury that denied him the use of his left arm. He was seized and held in captivity for 5 years. Later, he held two government jobs, succeeding at neither. At 53, he was in prison, and not for the first time. There in prison, he decided to write a book driven by boredom, the hope of gain, emotional release, or creative impulse. The book turned out to be one of the greatest ever written, a book that has enthralled the world for over 350 years. The prisoner was Cervantes, and the book was Don Quixote. There are many examples like this. The speaker recommends printing out Personal Renewal by John Gardner, single tasking, and getting away from notifications. The speaker has read this piece a few times and gets something from it every time.
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