I remember the first time my oldest daughter put on socks by herself.

My wife and I got home from running errands and there she was, putting her own socks on at 3 years old. We were floored, because she had always needed us to help her.

Our babysitter, Laura, was making her do it herself. Laura, by the way, had a degree in Early Childhood Education. So you know…she knew what a 3 year old is capable of.

It turns out that Teresa could put her socks on for herself — we just assumed she couldn’t so we never let her try. And this may not sound like a big deal if you don’t have kids. But trust me. When your kids can fully dress themselves, it’s an absolute game-changer.

We were robbing her of an important experience that made her feel proud for having some autonomy. And we were robbing ourselves of having a little extra time in the morning.

One of the most common uses I hear for AI is writing a first draft of your articles, scripts, or outlines. That, thanks to AI, you never have to stare at a blank slate.

You’re automating the hardest part of creating.

But it’s the hardest part because that’s where the magic happens.

AI First Drafts Lack Original Thought

Practically speaking, if we let AI write the first draft for us, we are outsourcing the most critical part of writing: fleshing out our ideas into something unique and interesting. AI will have far too much influence over what we write, and we won’t have very much original thought in our piece.

Don’t believe me? The next time you’re in a group where an opinion question is asked, be the first one to speak. See how many people fall in line behind you.

Then change your answer and see what happens.

The point is that we humans are very easily influenced. If we don’t need to think about something, most of us won’t. And when we let AI write the first draft, it has an outsized influence on the direction of the piece.

“But that’s only with bad prompts,” you might say. “If you train it well enough, it will put out good work,” another might retort.

Bunk. AI is not an original thought machine. A good prompt might get you better, more specific writing. Training it on things you’ve written might get it to sound like you. But it only knows thoughts you’ve already had, not new ones you have.

First Drafts Let Us Get Clear

It’s a stretch to say that if we had gone on putting Teresa’s socks on for her, she would have never learned how to do it herself.

It’s socks, not Calculus. But it would have taken her way longer to get there.

When we write the first draft ourselves, we’re forced to actually think about the thing we’re writing about. To churn through our first idea about a topic — pick it apart, expand upon it, maybe even change it.

Writing out your draft and actually seeing the words on the screen makes them real. Then you can mold them into an actual coherent thought.

When we let AI write the first draft, we rob ourselves of that opportunity. And we’re a lot worse off because of it.

Maybe we’ll eventually get to that original thought…but it will take us a lot longer to get there. And we’ll have wasted more time because we let AI have the first crack at it.

When to Bring in AI

This isn’t an anti-AI piece. It’s an anti-“let AI do the critical thinking for us” piece.

After you write the first draft, read it, and refine it…that’s when you bring in AI. Because then AI has your thesis, and it can:

• Pick it apart instead of feeding you what to say
• Proofread it for clarity and grammar
• Offer alternative angles or points of view
• Fact check it (to an extent)

Remember: AI is the tool. It’s not the brain. A hammer can’t build the house. It can only enable a carpenter to build it more efficiently.

When you let AI have the first crack at something, you are robbing yourself of important thought exercises. And you’re robbing your audience of something really worth reading.