If You Use Artificial Intelligence to Write, You Can’t Write

Rantings and ravings about the latest societal crutch and a notice to those who use it to hoodwink others into sensing authenticity when there is none to be found.

The first thing I’m going to make clear in this slightly off-topic post is that I don’t like writing “AI” to describe Artificial Intelligence. Maybe I’m the only person in this boat, but depending on the font, AI looks like the name “Al” – as in short for “Albert” – when written or typed. I prefer to write “A.I.” but AI/A.I. always slaps me down when I type that and tells me to use AI.

Either way, AI/A.I. is as annoying as Y2K, and seems to be all anyone ever talks about. Want to butter your toast more effectively in the morning? There’s an AI/A.I. for that. Having a hard time wiping effectively? Give it six months and AI/A.I. will have it all figured out.

I think much of my frustration over AI/A.I. is driven by the fact that I’ve become, like the machines, self-aware of my own addiction to cell phone usage and have had to put in barriers to restrict myself from wanting to reach for it in the first place. In the run-up to the 2024 election, with information flying everywhere, I was running 14-16 hours of screen time per day. The benefit was that I became a walking encyclopedia of instant knowledge, and perhaps it can be excused for such an important event – like soldiers smoking in combat – but there’s always some excuse to put off changes and nip these habits another time.

I’ve set aside X and Truth Social to focus my analysis on Substack. It has provided me with a great audience, worldwide recognition, and the income to remain independent in this information war, and therefore deserves most of my efforts at content creation. I hope this also helps you understand what my true motives are, because while it’s not life changing, I was making a few hundred dollars per week around election time on the X ad revenues sharing program. If I strategized effectively, sat on the phone all day, replied, shared, and made a few clickbait pieces per week, growing my following much larger, it is reasonable to think I could have made several thousand per month – which would help me a lot right now. Unfortunately, social media is a cesspool that comes with a major loss of peace at the hands of relatively few who use it to make other people miserable and hide behind avatars saying things they’d never say in person.

One of the greatest things about X is the Grok platform, which I still use on the xAI platform separate from X itself. It helps organize thoughts, fact-check items, reference complex information, and most importantly for me, scan for typos or other minor errors in my content. It can absolutely write passable information that can be sold off as original content, and I see it all over Trump Derangement Substack. Political con-artists all over the world use AI/A.I. to dish out 500-word essays about how this isn’t the America they grew up in, how mean President Trump is, and how words on a statue dictate national immigration policy. Affluent left-wingers eat this trash up and gladly hand over the monthly or annual fees to feel connection with people who largely resemble chameleons. I’ve mentioned before Joe Walsh and Adam Kinzinger are two of the worst in this arena.

What am I getting at here? While AI/A.I. is a tool, and one that has its benefits in the modern world…

If you use AI/A.I. to create your writing, YOU can’t write.

Now I understand why Chad Vivas and other artists were up in arms about AI/A.I. generated “art.” With a few commands and clicks, and the right subscription, an AI/A.I. can create digital renderings that push legitimate artists with God-given talents out of the competitive space, and satisfy the elementary cravings of those who do not appreciate what it is that goes into a real work of art made by a living, breathing human being expressing himself or herself on the medium.

Yes, Substack is from the Bay Area, is another function of big tech, and is starting to add things that make the platform more like standard social media, with reels, a focus on Notes, and dramatic 19-year-old girls acting like they’ve got it all figured out because they watched 20 people throw up at a frat house the night before. Still, there is practically zero censorship, fears of account suppression have died off, and most importantly, you have to be able to write to be successful, and the statistics bear that out.

Only recently, tons of ConInc influencers have made their way to Substack like the California Gold Rush looking to make it big, having heard reports that the monetization capabilities of the platform are immense. One by one they come in, post a few Notes, neglect to create a publication or write anything meaningful, and leave as soon as they find out 1.5 million X subscribers doesn’t translate to Substack revenue. It’s sort of like a guy my size stepping up to a golf ball, swinging as hard as possible, and hitting a worm-burner that threatens everyone around; it wasn’t the force and effort that mattered as much as the technique (hat tip, Jimmy Davis).

If you:

· Use AI/A.I. to write, you can’t write.

· If you use AI/A.I. to solve math problems, you can’t do math, even the six or so basic mathematical capabilities a self-reliant man should possess (add, subtract, multiply, divide, average, and calculate percentages).

· If you use AI/A.I. to “draw” or “paint” – you’re only a digital artist and not someone blessed with the dexterity and cognitive skill of the greats.

As with everything, there is a fine line. I think it’s fine to ask AI/A.I. for ideas or examples, especially if a lot of research is involved. If you want to make digital covers for a thumbnail photo, I see no issue with that. Unfortunately, AI/A.I. is bringing out the laziest, least innovative side of humanity there is, and creating a pathway for a future that will make heads buried in smartphones look like the pinnacle of civilization.

I am telling you now – I don’t draft my content with AI/A.I. I use it only to scan for typos or obvious errors, and make those corrections on my draft sheet before posting – or sometimes to verify something, like what was the population of Mississippi in 1960? My thoughts, opinions, rankings, and analyses are my original thoughts and I have receipts to prove it. Some have gone so far to make the case that writings free of grammatical or spelling errors suggest an AI/A.I. wrote it, and I’m sorry folks, but I hate spelling errors and won’t leave any of them so people don’t question me. I will, however, italicize words for no real reason and leave structuring in place even when the machine tells me how I should streamline it. That is my calling card to prove AI/A.I. has limited use with me.

So far, my non-AI/A.I. approach has landed me in the #75 spot for U.S. Politics on the bestsellers listing:

This means 74 accounts are ranked above me for overall revenue within the genre. Shockingly, you’ll find that out of those 74, very few can be categorized as independent, right of center, and cancelled. Take a look at the Top 12:

Kinzinger is 22nd this morning, but as you may discern, the top of the Substack pile is TDS-ridden and full of legacy media purple checks (over 10,000 paying subscribers) who regurgitate basic headlines, often through AI/A.I. (it’s obvious, go read some of their stuff). It goes something like this:

HEADLINE – TRUMP HAS SIDE SALAD WITHOUT CHEESE

Look what I came up with in less than one minute using AI/A.I:

The point of this entire article isn’t for me to bitch about people who make more money than I do on Substack. It’s to point out that I’m not and will never use AI/A.I. to hoodwink you into picking my work over someone else’s. Every word I’ve written for more than four years has come from my own brain and been channelled onto its medium after having processed through said brain. Not so with those who abuse modern technology to make people believe they’re smarter than they really are when in fact they know how to read a room and sell to irritated customers.

I also write this as another marker in time for the inevitable day when, thanks to the progression of AI/A.I., my credibility will be questioned, my models called false, and my overall body of work called into question because many of the purple-check fakers above me will be exposed for fraudulent writings. If you want to read the words of a sterile computer, subscribe to those accounts at the top of the U.S. Politics pile.

If you want to read real analysis, jaded by a degree of cynicism and mistrust of what we’ve been sold, through the lens of an Army intelligence veteran, then you’re in the right place. I would appreciate your support if this article resonates with you, and if you’re already in that boat, please put yourself to the important work of changing hearts and minds every day.

Thank you all!

---

Seth Keshel, MBA, is a former Army Captain of Military Intelligence and Afghanistan veteran. His analytical method of election forecasting and analytics is known worldwide, and he has been commended by President Donald J. Trump for his work in the field.