the world wants you, not ai's approximation of you

15 Jul, 2026

n.b. I wrote this because I feel like I keep seeing AI written blog posts on bearblog, bubbles, etc. and it's making me sad. Obviously I can't prove these posts are written by AI, but like, come on, it's usually pretty obvious... I am also kind of writing this for my past self, because I used AI to write a really vulnerable piece a while ago and I feel sad and/or embarrassed about that. I wish I had read something like this at the time. Would it have stopped me? Probably not, but it's been cathartic and clarifying nonetheless. I'm also not anti-ai, I just think using it for this specific purpose in this specific context makes literally no sense.

Writing, at it's best, is an act of love. When you spend your time and effort writing something, you infuse that writing with love. It helps you discover more of yourself, and maybe helps others do the same.

Writing with AI, on the other hand, is an act of disdain¹. You are treating your writing as unworthy of your time and effort - unworthy of your love. You are telling yourself and the world that you don't think whatever you can produce is good enough, whatever that means.

I've got some great and terrifying news for you: the world doesn't need an AI's approximation of you, it needs you - with all your quirks and imperfections, your strange passions and odd obsessions, your spellig mistakes and wonky grammar... As long as what you write is true for you, that's what matters. Especially in places like this (bearblog, bubbles, the indieweb...), it really makes no sense. It's like buying a dog and paying someone else to play with it.

So please, I'm begging you, stop using AI to write your blog posts. I want to know that you, fellow flawed and imperfect human, are doing your best to share with me your flawed and imperfect self. In whatever form that takes, that is enough, and you are enough.