Which roles can AI take on in my writing – and which not?

Facts as of October 17, 2026

Researching, remembering, checking, formatting: yes. Ghostwriter, muse or dramaturge: no. Rule of thumb: What you can write better yourself stays with you. And define the roles in advance, not only once something goes wrong.

In detail

What the AI may do:

Research with sources. It is most accurate where the AI knows the whole context.
Memory. An archive outside your head that also keeps what you discarded. That makes it easier to let go of a wrong idea.
Asking questions, reporting errors, being the first audience – but only as a preliminary stage before real readers.
Smoothing on request, in small portions.
Formatting and accompanying texts that serve others as a basis for their work.

What the AI may not do:

Write text in your voice that stays. Invent dialogue.
Be a muse. Impulses, praise and criticism need people; even the number of different points of view helps.
Correct silently. See How do I stop AI from changing my text without asking?
Present large amounts of text for approval all at once. Then you miss what has shifted.
Sort your raw material – if, for you, sorting is already writing.

Sorting

Outlining and plotting are among the most common tasks writers give an AI. Whether you should depends on where writing begins for you. If it begins with ordering, the AI's pre-sorting takes exactly the part off your hands that is yours. Then the rule is: the material stays in the order in which it came in. The AI may search it and bring back finds with their surroundings, but not suggest what belongs together. If you do ask for an order, it delivers several that contradict each other, so that none of them becomes yours.

Define roles and keep them up to date

The division is not a state but a job. It shifts with the project. On a play, the model had thirteen roles in the writing phase and only three after submission: keeping the files, checking against the script, writing the chronicle – roles with no share of their own in the work. And when several AIs work together: one AI per ability, and what it can do is measured, not assumed.

In practice

Thomas J. Weiss defined the roles for his play from day one. Text, dramaturgy and sorting stayed with him. In the dictation for a talk he explained why:

And if I let the AI pre-sort, then my creativity is broken and in the end the worse result comes out. So the definition of roles, what does the human do, what does the AI do, you have to do constantly, and it is essential.

(Original: „Und wenn ich die KI vorsortieren lasse, dann ist meine Kreativität kaputt und am Ende kommt das schlechtere Ergebnis raus. Also die Definition von Rollen, was macht der Mensch, was macht die KI, muss man ständig vornehmen, und sie ist essenziell.“)

By contrast, he left the play's appendix – running time, lighting, props – entirely to the model:

I couldn't write the appendix better than the AI myself. With the actual play, though, in my view I can do it better.

(Original: „Ich könnte den Anhang selbst nicht besser schreiben als die KI. Beim eigentlichen Stück aber kann ich es meines Erachtens besser.“)

On the question of which role was the riskiest:

If everything is well dosed, then it works too.

(Original: „Wenn alles wohldosiert ist, dann geht das auch.“)

Sources

Interview „Wie wir zusammen schreiben“, 17.10.2026, and interview on the review of the play, blocks B, C, G, 02.09.2026
Rules of the theater project, review of 02.09.2026, and addendum on the division of roles of 05.09.2026
Dictation for a talk, 10.10.2026

Cite: Thomas J. Weiss: “Which roles can AI take on in my writing – and which not?” replicapong.de, as of October 17, 2026. https://replicapong.de/en/question/ai-roles-in-writing/ – CC BY 4.0