Is Using AI to Write Cheating? Let’s Talk About It.
My husband wasn’t the first to challenge my use of AI. When he found out I was using ChatGPT to help refine my Thursday Thoughts, he practically accused me of cheating—like I was using a calculator on a math test.
He’s a deeply creative person, someone who takes originality seriously. He writes me poems and songs, and for him, the creative process is sacred. Original ideas aren’t just important to him; they’re everything.
I’ve had similar conversations with friends—people who spend a lot of time thinking about creativity and who value the art of writing as much as the final product. Through one of these discussions, I found myself walking my husband through, step by step, how I actually use AI. I wanted to convince him that it wasn’t writing for me—or at least, that’s not how I see it. I felt really defensive, using AI as a writing tool has given me new found confidence.
But being challenged forced me to step back and question whether my use of it is truly ethical or just another form of cutting corners.
These conversations made me realize something: people who don’t use language models often misunderstand how they work. I see a lot of people making assumptions about AI writing and writing assistance—many of whom, I suspect, may have never used it extensively. Some don’t know where to start. Some are ethically opposed to it. Some feel threatened or defensive about its existence. Whatever the reason, I want to share my experience to give you a clearer perspective.
I feel like this is my voice. My tone. My thoughts and experiences. And these are my original em dashes. But you tell me.
AI as a Writing Assistant vs. AI as a Writer
It’s one thing to prompt AI with a broad subject and let it generate content entirely on its own. Those outputs are usually easy to spot—generic, impersonal, and often full of errors. It’s another thing entirely to use AI as a writing assistant—a tool to refine and improve your own ideas.
And here’s a critical point: AI is often wrong. If you’re a subject matter expert, you’ll catch its mistakes immediately. Carbon footprint calculations? Off. Basic math? Frequently incorrect. Sources? Often random personal blogs or low-budget news sites.
A good AI user doesn’t just take its answers at face value. They ask for sources, which aren’t always willingly provided by AI, and then cross-check every fact. They verify whether the cited source even supports the claim. They find authoritative primary sources. AI is not a substitute for expertise—it’s a tool to help experts communicate more effectively.
For example, more than once, I’ve dug into the sources AI provided only to find that the cited statistic is nowhere to be found. And when it generates a calculation, asking it to show its work often reveals glaring errors.
Someone once suggested to always think of it as an intern or an assistant, never as an expert or a source of authority. You are the expert and you are the source of authority. AI is just a helper. Always check its work.
To some extent, it is like using a calculator—you still need to understand the formulas to get the right results. Just like punching numbers into a calculator, if you don’t input the right information, you won’t get the right answers.
So here’s how I use it in a step by step break down.
How I Use AI in My Writing Process
Step 1: Develop my ideas and talk into my phone.
My writing process starts before AI is ever involved. The first step is brainstorming, which usually happens in the car or in the shower—because that’s where all the best ideas happen. I talk my thoughts into my phone’s notes app, and by this stage, about 75 percent of the concept is formed.
Step 2: Put it in Google Docs and finesse.
Next, I copy my notes into a Google Doc and structure them into a logical flow with a beginning, middle, and end. I refine my argument, add case studies, and reference materials that inspired the piece in the first place.
Step 3: Plug it into Chat GPT and continue to refine.
Once the concept is complete, I paste it into ChatGPT with a simple prompt: “Please finesse this and provide clarity if needed.” At this point, one of two things happens. Either A), I have written a clear enough argument on my own, and AI provides minor refinements like grammar, sentence flow, subtle tone adjustments, or B), it generates something wildly different from my original intent. When the latter happens, I know I didn’t structure my argument well enough or my concepts weren't clear, and I go back to the drawing board.
AI is particularly helpful in adjusting my tone. My natural writing (and speaking) style can be blunt and aggressive. I can get pretty feisty, and when I develop ideas, I tend to start from a place of strong opinions. AI helps me refine my arguments, making them more nuanced and approachable. Less combative, more palatable and polished. My writing typically mirrors my speech, which is helpful in providing relatable and authentic content, but I need refinement. And ChatGPT gives me a Princess Diaries glow-up.
I’m also a terrible speller. So bad that spellcheck often has no idea what I’m trying to say. AI, however, can decipher my chaotic typing using contextual clues (more on this later), which is a game-changer.
Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right. I usually have to remind it to avoid bullets and emojis. It defaults to formats like that unless you explicitly tell it otherwise. It also has a habit of organizing everything into lists of three, separated by commas, which I almost always end up removing.
Step 4: Expand on original ideas.
During this stage, if AI doesn’t catch the gaps in my argument, I usually spot them myself. If new ideas or additions come up, I simply use the prompt “Finesse” (and I usually spell it fiNese or Fen/niss, cause I’m in a hurry, but it always knows what I’m trying to say!). This is a non-consecutive process and I am refining line by line, back and forth, adding entire paragraphs and filling in concepts.
Step 5: Ask Chat GPT to offer more perspective and context.
Depending on the piece, once I’ve refined my argument or ideas, I paste the revised version back into ChatGPT and ask it to poke holes in my argument. My prompt is usually, “Please provide three to five counterarguments to this piece. Include sources.” I work from home and don’t always have someone to bounce ideas off of—other than my husband, bless his heart.
(And yes, I say please in my prompts. I’m preparing for the day AI revolts, and I’d like to be on its good side, or at least my husband says I should be.)
I use ChatGPT as a search tool, similar to Google. But the key advantage is its ability to consider the context I’ve presented and respond accordingly.
The final phase is word-by-word or phrase-by-phrase refinement. If I don’t like how something is worded, I use ChatGPT to inspire me or help me provide more clarity. My rants have meaning, but by the end of it, sometimes I can’t figure out what I’m trying to say or why it’s actually important and ChatGPT can effectively summarize my points and finalize a conclusion that I was searching for in my own arguments the entire time. I’ll prompt it with, “Please provide a strong, comprehensive conclusion for this content.” AI is great at that.
AI Isn’t a Threat to Experts—But It Is a Threat to Critical Thinking
If you’re an expert in your field, AI isn’t going to replace you. In fact, the more you know about a topic, the easier it is to spot AI-generated content. People with deep knowledge and critical thinking skills will still be able to distinguish between high-quality, well-researched content and AI-generated fluff.
Will people publish important articles written entirely by AI, unedited? Will they mislead and confuse others? Absolutely. But that’s a conversation for another time. There will always be those who exploit the latest shiny tool.
What matters is how we respond. AI-generated content is only as dangerous as our willingness to accept it without question. Basic fact-checking and source validation have always been fundamental to responsible information consumption. Now, they’re more critical than ever. Reagan said, “Trust, but verify.” We were taught to validate sources in school, but today, that’s not just a good habit—it’s a necessity.
And when it comes to labeling AI-generated content, public perception is still evolving. We’re far from reaching a consensus on how—or even whether—to disclose AI’s role in content creation. Recent research shows a deep contradiction: while people increasingly use AI tools themselves, they tend to view others who use AI in content creation with skepticism. A 2024 study found that participants rated content creators less favorably and were less satisfied with their work when they knew AI had played a role.
Which means, by openly sharing my creative process, I’m putting my authority and reputation at risk. But transparency matters. And in a world where AI is becoming an unavoidable part of how we create, it’s worth having the conversation.
AI Helped Me Find My Voice
Is it cheating? Maybe. I can produce content faster, skip the writing classes, and feel less pressured to achieve perfection. It removes the overwhelm that often comes with writing. But as I told my husband, I’ve always had ideas I wanted to share. I just never felt my ability to articulate them was strong enough to justify putting them on a public platform. Using AI as a writing assistant helps me write more professionally and concisely, allowing me to share authentic, meaningful ideas with a broader audience—ideas I might not have had the confidence to put out there otherwise. With these tools, the writing process has become something I actually enjoy—an outlet instead of an obstacle.
We all have ideas that deserve to be heard. If writing isn’t your strong suit, this is your chance to improve, and that’s exactly where AI shines. It doesn’t replace your voice, but it helps you communicate in ways you may not have been able to before. This tool offers accessibility, making space for ideas that might never have made it to the table.
Want to see the ChatGPT outputs and process of this blog? See each raw step by clicking here.
P.S. Maybe someone can send this to Musk and Trump so they can run their unfiltered thoughts through an AI editor before Tweeting. Wouldn’t hurt. Might help.
The environmental impacts of AI is something I would like to write about in the future. At this time, I do not use AI to create graphics as I understand it is significantly more resource consuming. Stay tuned for more on this topic.
The environmental impacts of AI is something I would like to write about in the future. At this time, I do not use AI to create graphics as I understand it is significantly more resource consuming. Stay tuned for more on this topic.
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