How Do I Use AI to My Advantage as a Writer?
While you never want to replace AI with your humanity as a writer, teaching it to help with those tasks and workflows that will make you more efficient is a great use of AI. Leaving you more time for your creativity.
Ok writers, we need to talk about AI. But not in the way you might be expecting.
There seems to be two common views floating around the Internet when it comes to AI…
The Pessimistic View: Gloom. Doom. Humans replaced.
And the Optimistic View: AI fixes everything. Ends wars. Saves the environment, and we all get to live happily ever after.
Well, I think both of these views are equally harmful. Why? Because they both operate under the assumption that we, as humans, have no control over any of it.
That we should just throw our hands up and outsource all power, empathy and decision-making to a fancy pattern predictor.
And no matter what way you slice it, that is dangerous.
Now, I’m definitely not here to tell you npt to use AI, because AI is here, it’s here to stay, and it’s only going to get better.
But, personally, I don’t believe AI is our arch nemesis, just like I don’t believe it’s our savior.
I’ve said this since ChatGPT launched back in 2022, AI is a TOOL. Not a takeover.
Sure, it’s the most powerful tool of our generation.
One that is causing us to rethink, redesign and reimagine, literally everything. But we, as humans, were literally made to evolve… to pivot… to adapt.
And if you think about it…
As a writer —a creative, a marketer, a storyteller — you are literally among the most qualified people on the planet to use AI powerfully and intentionally, without outsourcing your creativity, originality and humanity.
This is why giant tech companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are investing so much in hiring human storytellers and content marketers right now.
So let’s talk about what this means for you.
Welcome to PART 1 of a 3-part series on AI and the future of writing.
In this blog post, I’m going to share my 3-step framework for how to win with AI as a writer. These 3-steps are going to help you stay on top of current technology without selling your soul or feeling out of integrity with your craft.
This is a key part of the AI conversation, and it needs to be had.
In Part 2, I’ll talk about the future of writing jobs. Yes, what you’ve heard is true. AI is making some writing jobs obsolete, but not all of them. In fact, a very specific type of writing is actually thriving because of AI. And I’ll talk more about that next week.
And in Part 3, I’m going to talk specifically about copywriting. Do businesses really still need to hire copywriters when AI can generate words for free? Why should a business owner hire a copywriter instead of relying on AI?
And what exactly can you – as a copywriter – do to position yourself as valuable and irreplaceable to your dream clients?
This is going to be a juicy blog post because I’m coming at you with receipts of real conversations I’ve had with real business owners and copywriters about this topic. I think you’ll find what they had to say super interesting.
So, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter below so you don’t miss any of these blog posts coming up next.
Now, do I have some tea to spill in this blog post with a story you need to hear.
But first, if you’ve been following me for a while, you already know that I’ve been pretty vocal about the dangers of over-relying on AI. And I stand by every word of that.
Creativity is a muscle. If you outsource every single thought, idea or decision to a machine, that muscle atrophies.
I’ve talked about this what feels like a million times, but here’s the catch…
Refusing to use AI at all in 2026 is not protecting your creativity. It’s just leaving leverage on the table.
The writers, marketers, and business owners who will win this decade are not the ones who use AI for everything, and they’re not the ones who use AI for nothing.
They’re the ones who strike a smart balance.
So today I want to give you a real, practical framework for how to actually do that — as a writer, as a creative, as a marketer, as someone who gives a damn about the work they put into the world.
Here’s the reframe I want you to hold onto for this whole video: Stop asking “Will AI replace me?”
And start asking “What could I create if AI handled the stuff that drains me?”
Because what actually kills creative output isn’t lack of ideas. It’s the time-consuming admin work, the finicky formatting, the research rabbit holes, the first draft paralysis.
The repetitive tasks that eat three hours of your day before you’ve written a single sentence that matters.
So what if AI took all of that off your plate, so you could spend more time doing the thing only you can do?
Think of it like this: a master chef doesn’t chop every single vegetable by hand to prove they’re a real chef.
They have an assistant for prep work and save their skills for what ends up on the plate.
You are the chef. AI is the assistant.
So how do you actually do this? Well, here’s my three-step framework for using AI the right way…
Using AI Step 1: Audit Your Workflow
Write down everything you do in a given week. And I’m not taking the general things you do… get super granular.
So for example, “writing content” becomes…
- Brainstorm topics
- Research
- Come up with hooks
- Write first draft
- Edit
- Write final draft
- Repurpose into emails and social captions
- Format and schedule
Now look at that list and ask: which of these require my voice, my judgment, my creativity? Those stay with you, and that’s non-negotiable.
But everything else? That’s where we move into step #2…
Using AI Step 2: Train AI Like a Team Member
Here’s the mistake I see constantly…
Someone tries AI once or twice, gets a mediocre output, and declares it useless.
That’s like hiring someone, giving them zero context, zero examples, zero direction — and then firing them on day one because their first attempt wasn’t perfect.
You have to train AI the way you’d train a great assistant.
Give it your brand voice. Give it writing samples. And, give it rules it cannot break. The more context you give it, the better the output is — every single time.
The difference between a vague prompt and a well-trained, context-rich AI assistant is night and day.
We’re talking generic AI slop versus something that’s a lot closer to what you’d actually write.
And, if you’re a copywriter, you can do this for literally every single one of your clients!
Now, if you need help figuring out how to train AI to be a great assistant, I actually created a short mini-course breaking the whole process down for you.
It’s called Brainstorm: The Human Copywriter’s AI Handbook.
Using AI Step 3: Keep Your Humanity
For the love of everything that is good in the world do not outsource your humanity. Your story, your opinions, your lived experiences, your specific way of seeing the world.
AI cannot and most importantly – should not – replace that. Never, ever, ever, ever! AI can approximate, it can mimic patterns and give calculated responses. But it cannot replace the thing that makes an audience trust and relate to you specifically.
Your humanity – who you are, your values, your interests, your voice, your unique way of viewing the world – that is your #1 competitive advantage.
And this is the plot twist of the whole AI era that nobody’s talking about.
AI is actually making you even more valuable.
Because when everyone and everything starts sounding exactly alike.
The humans who still sound like humans become the most valuable voices in the room.
Now we have to talk about the other side of this. Because using AI well isn’t just about protecting your creativity.
It’s about protecting your integrity.
And yes, I have a story…
Something happened to me recently that rattled me to my core, and I think it’s the most important lesson in this entire blog post.
A well-known marketer recently used AI to generate an image of a woman that looked eerily identical to me to promote his copywriting tool.
It looked so much like me that people were actually sending it to me and commenting on his ad, asking how he got me to model for him.
And when I called it out, his response was: “It’s a coincidence.” Ok, sure, we’ll go with that…
But this “coincidence” raises a point that I think every single person using AI in their marketing needs to hear:
When you use AI tools, you do not get to check your responsibility at the door.
You train your AI. You chose the prompts. Also, you look at the output. You make the choice to publish it. And you chose to profit from it.
AI didn’t make those decisions. You did.
We are in the wild west of AI right now. There are no clear rules, no fences, no sheriffs.
And a lot of people are taking that as an invitation to do whatever they want — and then they blame the machine when it blows up. It’s like blaming the dog for eating your homework.
So here’s the one question I want you to tattoo on your brain before you publish anything AI-assisted:
“Would I be proud to put my name on this?”
In other words, would you proudly claim it as yours? If the answer is yes, publish it.
If you’re hesitating, that hesitation is telling you something. Listen to it. Because here’s what I know about marketing: the tools amplify who you already are.
If you’re a thoughtful, empathetic marketer, AI makes you more powerful, more efficient, more impactful.
If you’re a lazy, irresponsible one, AI just lets you cause more damage, faster.
So let’s zoom out for a second.
AI is going to keep getting better. The cost of producing content, copy, ads, and designs is going to keep dropping. Which means the volume of content will continue to explode. In fact, AI content has already officially surpassed human content online.
That makes trust, authenticity and real human connection scarce and, therefore, even more valuable.
That is what you are building when you invest in your craft.
When you develop your voice, your point of view, your storytelling skills, you’re not just learning to write. You’re building the one thing AI will never be able to manufacture at scale.
So here’s what I want you to take away from all of this:
Don’t fear AI. But don’t worship it either. Use it like the tool it is and protect your creativity and your integrity like the premium assets they are.
Because in a world full of AI-generated everything, the most rebellious thing you can do is stay deeply, unapologetically human.
Use the tools, own the output. And never, ever publish something you wouldn’t proudly put your name on.
That’s how you win with AI in 2026.
If this resonated, share it. This conversation needs to get louder.
Make sure you tune back in for Parts 2 & 3 of this series on AI and the future writing.
And if you want to build your marketing strategy on a foundation of real skill and real integrity, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter for more.
Until next time. I’m Alex – ciao for now.
