[Lab Note #0] Perfect writing is cheap now. So I’m optimizing for voice.
After years of using AI tools, I care less about polish and more about sounding like myself.
The more AI gets used for writing outputs by others, the less I care about making sure my written words are perfect on social platforms. I’m not making a judgment about you or others. This is just an observation from my own experience using AI over the last seven years.
I’ve used AI tools in various forms creatively since 2019. I entered the blockchain and NFT rabbit hole then and eventually connected with a lot of brilliant minds, tinkerers, developers, and builders who are at the forefront of emerging tech. They introduced me to many innovations long before some became mainstream.
As I used these tools more and more, I found myself using them less as an outright offboarding tool and more as a creative workflow tool. More like Photoshop, a digital camera, or digital libraries. I think that is the right mental model for these tools.
As LLMs entered mainstream consumer life, it became clear how easy it is to anthropomorphize them. Mostly for two reasons. The tool itself mimics human language pretty well. The interface also mimics the chat formats we have been conditioned to use since we started carrying mini mainframes in our pockets.
It is important to remember that these machines have no intent. They have no internal determination of who you are. They are probabilistic models designed to output the most likely response given the context you feed them.
And of course, all of that is contextualized by the model you are using. Better training data generally leads to more human-sounding outputs.
All of this is to say that the more I’ve used these tools, the more confident I’ve become in my own unique voice, because the outputs never sound like me. That’s the takeaway. I care less about sounding perfect and more about ensuring my voice is represented in the content I put out there.
And that’s what you can expect. Informal thoughts, incomplete ideas, and thought patterns not yet fully formed.
My hope is that something in my notes will spark conversation. In fact, I invite it. I want you to challenge me. Push back on my ideas. You should take my ideas and expand on them. Make them better through your own lens. This is how we grow and learn in the age of AI.
So, what are you optimizing for right now. Polish. Or voice.
Join me in the conversation by following me on LinkedIn → Eric P. Rhodes, and check out my latest research at the Future of Work Lab.