AI can make your prose look good, even when it's not

AI can help you write better. But it won't make your arguments stronger or supply the logic you haven't developed yourself.

This UnfilteredFriday is also Cooling-off Day in Singapore, the day before citizens head to the polls on Saturday.

I don’t believe in writing unless I can offer meaningful input or insight into an issue. Accordingly, I've made no comment on the upcoming elections... until now.

Here's my contribution to the political discourse in Singapore.

Written by AI

Without meaning to, I've come across a surfeit of political and social commentaries on LinkedIn. What caught my attention: many are written or edited using AI.

Not all, mind you. But easily a majority. How did I arrive at this conclusion?

Simple, I see posts with:

• Flawless grammar and punctuation.
• Telltale phrasing or sentence structures.
• Written much better than their usual posts.

Not sure why - political posts on LinkedIn just must be well-written.

Built on shaky foundations

I'm not here to condemn the practice of using AI, since I leverage it myself to write better and faster.

What I want to say is this:

• AI can help produce well-written sentences that read well. But it won't transform a shaky argument into a strong one without sound reasoning and evidence.
• AI can generate large volumes of text. But simply having more words doesn't make an idea clearer, stronger, or more compelling.

Fun fact: You can also use AI in reverse to swiftly dissect an argument, exposing weakly constructed pieces no matter how polished the prose.

The AI-infused future

Poor English was an easy way to tell whether a piece of writing was well-reasoned or substantive. But with AI, anyone can produce lengthy essays that look well-written.

Still, the proof is in the pudding, or should I say, in the words. Good writing is more than structure; it’s the clarity of thought and depth of insight that truly set it apart.

In fact, I'll argue that the bar for good writing has shifted. With AI accessible to everyone, it's clear thinking and sharp reasoning that cut through the noise.

Hope my politics-without-the-politics post got you thinking.