Lately, I’ve noticed an influx of ads in my feed, all from authors showcasing their work and the services they use to create and market their books. While I appreciate the creativity and hard work that goes into being an author, two trends have been nagging at me: the use of AI to write books and the growing popularity of ghostwriters.

Let me start by saying I have nothing against those who choose to use ghostwriters. It’s not something I would ever consider, but I understand the appeal. Maybe you’re juggling multiple projects, or you have a great story idea but struggle with the execution. I get it. But using AI to write? That’s something I just can’t wrap my head around.

I’ve never been one to embrace the whole AI craze. Sure, I know my graphics and art guys use AI for certain tasks, and that’s fine—I’m not here to tell anyone how to do their job. It’s always fully disclosed too. But when it comes to writing, that’s where I draw the line. Writing is deeply personal. It’s a way to express your thoughts, emotions, and experiences in a way that’s uniquely yours. So why would anyone want to outsource that to a machine?

The idea of using AI to write never even crossed my mind until these ads started popping up. I can’t help but think it strips away the essence of creativity. When you sit down to write, it’s just you and your thoughts. Every word you type is a reflection of your mind, your imagination. Using AI feels like handing over the keys to something sacred, letting a program do the heavy lifting instead of engaging in the creative process yourself.

I know some people might argue that AI can be a useful tool. Maybe they’ll say it can help overcome writer’s block or generate ideas when you’re stuck. But to me, that misses the point entirely. Writing is about the journey as much as the destination. I started writing again during a particularly tough time in my life. It was an outlet, a way to process my emotions and channel them into something meaningful. If I had used AI or a ghostwriter, would I have found the same healing? I doubt it.

Writing helped me sidestep meltdowns and explore my creativity when I needed it most. As I began to feel better, my writing evolved. What started as an attempt to cope with grief turned into a novel—an entire world born from my desire to create and express myself. That’s not something you can replicate with AI.

There’s also a question of fairness. Writers like me pour our hearts and souls into our work, spending countless hours crafting each sentence. Then there’s AI, capable of generating something incredible—maybe even beyond what’s humanly possible. Is that fair? I’m not sure. But I do know that the idea of competing with AI-generated content doesn’t sit well with me.

I have no interest in learning how AI works or how it could be used to write. I enjoy the process of writing too much—the challenge, the learning, the growth. I’ve taken writing classes, experimented with new techniques, and struggled with sentences until they felt just right. To me, those are the experiences that make writing so fulfilling. I would never want to take a shortcut.

The closest thing I’ve ever used to AI is a thesaurus and maybe Grammarly, once, when a sentence just wouldn’t come together. Even then, it felt like I was cheating a little. The thought of AI taking over more and more aspects of life—jobs, experiences, creativity—it’s scary. It feels like we’re losing something important, something human.

I’m not the only one who feels this way. In our last writing class, we actually had a discussion about this whole AI phenomenon when several of us noticed an increase in pushing “AI to write your next book”. The conversation was made better by something pretty surprising. Our teacher had us take the 3,500-word manuscript we’d put together during the course and run it through an AI checker online. To our shock, the checker claimed that about 80% of our work had been written by AI. I mean, really? It was ridiculous. We literally crafted that story together, sentence by sentence, in class. What does that even mean?

We all laughed it off, but it made us think. If an AI checker can’t even accurately determine what’s human-created, how can we trust any of it? It’s as if these tools are just guessing, using some mysterious algorithm to decide what “sounds” like AI. But how can a machine understand the nuances, the little quirks, and the unique voices that come from actual human collaboration? It was a stark reminder that technology, while advanced, still has its limitations. And more importantly, it reminded us why we write in the first place—to create, to connect, to express something that’s truly our own.

Maybe I’ll write a book about that someday. 😂 The dark side of AI, the erosion of creativity and self-expression. But for now, I’ll keep writing the old-fashioned way, pouring myself into every word, and enjoying the process every step of the way.