I write
What AI brings to writing – and what stays with you · 11 questions
- What does AI really do for writing?In the experience of Thomas J. Weiss, less for the wording than for checking, sourcing and remembering.
- Which roles can AI take on in my writing – and which not?Researching, remembering, checking, formatting: yes. Ghostwriter, muse or dramaturge: no.
- Should I dictate my text or write it myself?It depends on your role: is it your text or not? For your own work, you write, because every word counts there.
- How do I stop AI from changing my text without asking?Say it explicitly: flag, don't change. The model names the passage and what speaks against it – you decide.
- Does Claude write the texts on this site – as a ghostwriter?In a sense, yes: on this site Claude phrases almost everything, while Thomas J. Weiss sets the direction, answers in interviews, checks and takes responsibility.
- Do I have to label what the AI wrote?A label per paragraph or per text promises a precision that hardly exists: in the end almost all texts are mixtures.
- How can I tell whether an AI project has succeeded?By deciding beforehand what you'll measure it by – not afterwards. Write down how you would notice that the AI has gone too far, how you'd notice that it worked, and when you'll check.
- How do I check a text the AI wrote for me?For factual accuracy, for whether your conviction is rendered correctly, and, with other people's content, for sources and care.
- How do I work with two AIs together?With a main AI that decides and does everything it can, and a helper AI for what the main AI does less well, such as images.
- How do I keep track of which part of a text is mine?Not with your memory, but with your files: Store your original draft before the AI revises anything, and keep the original and the revision separate.
- Who owns a text I write with AI?You decide – depending on the project and the role you play in it. If you want to count as the author, you write yourself, and the AI takes on other tasks: typesetting, correcting, keeping records.