I’ve been researching AI and how it affects learning lately, and I’ve noticed that I’m depending more and more on LLMs, particularly to help me with my writing and editing.

I also observe others doing the same, adhering to the traditional, infallible “rules” of writing success: having a strong hook, appearing professional, being extremely well-organized, drawing attention, using particular emojis to capture attention, being succinct, accurate, punchy, employing the most effective engagement-boosting techniques, and so forth.

This reflection led me to judge myself for using the same approach as everyone else.

As an example, I’ve seen posts on X and LinkedIn and thought to myself, is this a genuine post or is this content generated by AI?

Sometimes I’m curious to know if the text is entirely created by AI, so I use tools to detect if the text is AI-generated. Often I see “100% of text is likely AI-generated,” and then I think, Oh, maybe this person is trying to look smart for the sake of chasing likes, or perhaps they only edited and polished their own words using an LLM to adjust and correct the grammar and logic of the sentences.

Either way, this led me to think to myself: Maybe I’m overthinking my posts; maybe I’m not being my authentic self.

This reflection reminds me of a phrase from Seth Godin’s blog that caught my attention about writing with authenticity. Seth says that “Authenticity in writing is achieved through wielding your unique voice and sharing your personal truth”.

It makes me wonder if I’m losing touch with what makes my viewpoint distinct and weakening my own voice by depending too much on AI tools. Perhaps I should embrace my real thoughts and let my actual self to shine through rather than concentrating on utilizing AI to make my postings flawless.

After all, authenticity can’t be replicated by algorithms, and perhaps that’s what truly resonates with people.