I Hired A.I. To Do the Jobs I'm Not Good At

But I Make It Leave the Room When It's Time Do The Real Work of Writing

My assistant’s employee badge. Don’t ever call him “Art.”

I've been writing "with" AI for five months now, and I've discovered something surprising: AI has improved my writing, but not in the way most people think.

It's not about letting AI write for you. It's about understanding the one crucial area where AI is actually more creative than humans - and using that to your advantage.

The Secret Superpower of AI Creativity

Recent research has uncovered something fascinating about AI's creative abilities. According to studies examining ChatGPT-4, AI outperforms 99% of humans in one specific area: idea generation.

Here's what the research shows:

• AI generates 7 times more top-rated ideas than elite business school students

• It's 40 times more efficient at producing ideas than humans

• It matches or exceeds human performance in ideation tests

• But there's a crucial caveat: AI scores lower on true novelty

This last point is key. While AI excels at generating variations and combinations of existing ideas, it still struggles with genuine innovation. And this reveals exactly how we should be using it.

Three Powerful Research Studies

Jakob Nielsen is one of the pioneers of User Design. I’m guessing that his work has influenced the people who design 80 or 90 percent of the products you happily use every day.

First thing — subscribe to Jakob’s Substack. Although he has been designing for decades, he has embraced AI for the same reason you and I do: A deep belief that the only way to influence the evolution of AI is to use AI.

In this must-read piece "AI Is More Creative Than 99% of Humans -- on One Metric,” he presents three research studies that show just where AI excels in the creative process, as well as where it falls behind humans.

The key insight? While AI dominates in idea generation, it lacks judgment - and that's where human writers become essential. We're uniquely qualified to evaluate, select, and refine the ideas AI generates.

This isn't just good news for writers - it's especially encouraging for experienced ones. As Nielsen points out, while raw creativity might decline with age, our ability to judge and select great ideas actually improves. AI can help extend productive careers by handling the heavy lifting of initial ideation while we focus on what humans do best: critical thinking and judgment.

Real Writers, Real Experiences

I'm not alone in discovering this symbiotic relationship with AI. Two writers are particularly transparent about their AI-enhanced writing processes:

Daniel Nest has been writing with AI for nearly two years. While he's "vehemently against AI writing," he's found valuable uses for it in:

• Research

• Brainstorming

• Outlining

• Visualizing

• Beta reader feedback

Meanwhile, Erik J. Larson's "The AI Author's Playbook" offers a master class in elevating writing with AI, from initial concepts to final polish. He's currently using AI to assist in rewriting a 95,000-word novel and developing a non-fiction book proposal.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Like Daniel, I never ask AI to write for me. The research confirms what many of us have discovered through experience: AI excels at recombining existing ideas but struggles with true originality.

But here's the bigger picture: We're at a crucial moment in the development of AI writing tools. As writers, we need to actively engage with these tools, speak openly about our experiences, and help shape their development. Engineers and developers need our insights about what works and what doesn't.

This Wednesday, I'll share my detailed experiences using Claude as a research assistant for the past month - both the breakthroughs and the failures. Next week, we'll dive into the art of effective AI prompting, gathering insights from writers who've mastered this new craft.

Your Turn

I'm particularly curious about one aspect of your AI writing experience: What's the most surprising way AI has helped improve your writing? Not just made it faster or easier, but actually better?

Share your experience in the comments - or if you haven't tried AI tools yet, what's holding you back?

If you found this helpful, consider subscribing to join our ongoing exploration of writing in the AI age. Every Monday, we examine the big ideas shaping AI and writing, and every Wednesday, I share real-world experiments and experiences using these tools.

And if you know someone who might like to dive in and join the conversation, please share this Substack with them. Thanks!