How I Use AI on This Blog

by Laurie Ruettimann

I don’t have a human editor for this blog, but I still try to edit for clarity and tone. More and more, I’m using AI tools to help. That’s why it’s important to tell you how I use this technology.

Every idea, topic, sentence, and word originates with me. I draft my work myself. When I use AI, it happens after a draft has been created. I use it to check my basic communication skills and overall logic. I ask questions like, “Does this make sense?” or “Is the flow in the logical order?” Any suggestion it offers is optional. I decide what stays. I decide what goes.

I require AI to follow my existing body of work as a style guide, especially Betting On You, which I wrote before widespread generative AI and which was edited by humans. That book reflects my voice, my judgment, and my standards. I do not use AI to invent ideas, fabricate experiences, or generate work that is not mine.

But I am clear-eyed about how AI exists. These systems were trained on massive amounts of creative labor, much of it taken without consent, including my own. The ethical tension is real. I don’t pretend otherwise.

I also know that many writers and editors already work alongside “machines.” Spellcheckers, grammar tools, and editing software are already part of modern writing and have embedded AI in their platforms. The question is not whether people are using AI. It is how we use it, and whether we are honest about the tradeoffs.

I don’t have a very good answer to any of this mess.

I am writing a lot, including a new book called Don’t Get a Cat. My book proposal includes a factual statement about my use of AI. This post tries to do the same. What you read here is my work, and it’s important enough for me to make this statement to you.

I stand by my processes. My words are my own. They are lightly edited by AI, especially because I have rheumatoid arthritis and make a ton of typos these days when I write at a fever pitch. In that way, Grammarly and all of the AI platforms are part of an accessibility package that makes my work possible.

I encourage you to think about how to make your public AI use as transparent as possible, too.