Writing With AI Without Losing Your Voice

AI can write fast. The risk is that everything starts to sound the same. Here's how to use it as a helper rather than a ghostwriter.

• Overcoming the blank page: outlines and rough first drafts.
• Structure: reorganising a messy draft.
• Editing: tightening, clarifying and fixing grammar.
• Alternatives: headlines, openings and summaries.
• Repurposing: turning one piece into several formats.

1. Write the first draft yourself when it matters, then ask AI to tighten it.
2. Share samples of your writing and ask it to match the style.
3. Add specifics: stories, names, numbers and opinions only you have.
4. Cut the clichés: "In today's fast-paced world", "delve", "game-changer".
5. Read it aloud. If you wouldn't say it, change it.
6. Keep one idea per paragraph and plain words.

• "Tighten this by 20% without changing the meaning."
• "Point out vague or repeated phrases."
• "Make this sound more like me. Here are two examples."
• "What would a sceptical reader ask?"

• Fact-check every claim and number.
• Don't pass off AI text as personal experience.
• Follow disclosure rules for your school, employer or publisher.
• Be careful with confidential material.

Use AI for speed and structure, and add the human parts yourself: experience, opinion and care. That's what readers remember.