Writing Like a Human - AI inside. Srini outside (or is it the other way round?)

 

I was reading an article in a magazine and suddenly found myself thinking. This looks too well written. Bombastic words but correctly placed. Rhetorics as we hear it. Beautifully adjusted. The flow. Smooth as silk. It looked - well airbrushed or should I say AI-brushed.

We live in an age where writing has never been easier. Just type out the right prompt and the words flow, the grammar checks itself, and even multiple style suggestions arrive before you even blink. The truth is, tools like ChatGPT are powerful co-pilots. They help you research faster, phrase cleaner, and even think sharper. But the moment you hand them the wheel entirely, you risk losing your most valuable asset: your voice.

And here’s the question that I was asking myself : Can readers tell when it’s not really me writing anymore? (Especially since I use the help of my friend ChatGPT very often) And more importantly: Do I still feel like the writer when AI lends a hand?

This got me thinking. How do I write articles that feel authentically human—even when I am using AI support?

And here’s what I’ve discovered along the way (with some help from my AI friend, of course):

1. Don’t write bookish prompts. Think out loud. 

Forget one-liners like “Write me an article on the pain and pleasures of writing.” Instead, try what we humans do best: ramble a little. Say why you want the piece. Talk about what is the question which led you to this point. Mention a conversation with a friend or a thought you had. Drop in a half-baked idea which kickstarted this thought. Ask a question the way you would, to a friend. 

You may say “Whaaaat? But that’s not what I was taught in ‘Master ChatGPT prompts in 8 hrs’ class.” My regular and constant use of ChatGPT has brought me to this conclusion. For the best results and answers to my queries - the real prompts are my jumbled thoughts. I have noted that AI responds much better to my curiosity than to stereotype commands. So be yourself. Think aloud. Let your wandering thought be your question or your prompt. 

2. Remember it is your voice - not that of AI.

Watch your voice like a hawk. AI loves to polish everything. But we humans? We love texture in our words.

Imagine a bombastic and quotable one-liner sentence in your article like: It wasn’t just writing—it was architecture made of sentences and silence. Does it sound like you?

Make sure to write it in your voice.  Let AI give you options, sure. But you should make the final edit. The tone is your identity.

3. Add friction. Real thought is not always seamless.

When something reads too smooth, too balanced, too perfectly paced—it starts to smell… artificial. People can sense it. So can you. Don’t let AI airbrush your own writing style off the page. So then how do you write so that people still know that you have written it. 

Introduce deliberate tension in your writing:

• Ask a rhetorical question - “Do I feel that writing this article would help?”.

• Pause mid-thought. “And then ….”

• Add a personal doubt. “I have always wondered ….

• Sometimes even say, “Here’s where I’m unsure…”

We humans don’t think in straight lines. We hesitate. We revisit. We contradict ourselves. We go up and down. We make mistakes. Let that show. That’s what readers relate to.

4. Drop in lived experience.

My daughter has always told me to write my memories of travel, not of things that can be read from a guide. To write of things that I have experienced which no one else in the world has. She says that experience cannot be copied and people would relate to it.

For example even this article is a result of that. I could have just prompted ChatGPT to help me write an article on how to write like a human ( I have done that :-) but I have cleaned up). AI can write with intelligence and information. But only you can write with memory. No AI can ever provide you with YOUR life examples.

Whether it’s:

• “This reminded me of days when we had to practice English handwriting in 4 line notebooks in summer holidays…”

• Or “We would play cricket with the lamppost in the middle of the school playground as stumps…”

These are the invisible ties of your article. AI can provide support—but it can’t summon thoughts from your life. Don’t let that richness of your life be lost to generic summaries provided by a machine.

5. Use AI as a synthesizer, not a ghostwriter.

I have felt this time and again. AI is your all knowing administrative assistant, a copy editor at best but definitely not the author. You need to supply the heart and soul; it can be used to help shape the skeleton. Where you should utilise AI and where it truly shines is:

• Summarizing complex research.

• Offering alternative phrasings

• Spotting structural holes.

• Helping translate abstract thoughts into paragraphs.

Utilise this power of AI. It will help you speed up the process definitely. While writing remember - ChatGPT is not the pen. The pen’s still in your hand. And I would say, it’s not writing for you. It is only helping you build your article.

6. Read your draft loud.

Before you hit publish, read your draft aloud. Go through the article one more time. It may sound boring. You feel you have checked enough. But still. Read it out just one more time. The final cleanup with one’s style is imperative.

Ask yourself:

• Does this sound like me if I were speaking at a dinner table?

• Would I actually say this phrase? And will I say it in this way?

• Is there anything here that feels like it’s trying too hard to sound profound? Too grand?

       • Would my wife, my children, my friends find out, all this is a copy - pasted article Srini has got written by his friend ChatGPT?

Edit your article based on that. And if something makes you smile, wince, or nod—keep it. Those are the signals of real human texture.

Now before you wonder whether I have written this myself or is that I have used ChatGPT to write this article for me to make my blog look cooler I would like to share one wonderful thing about AI. It learns from you like a child. And if you make silly errors, it learns that too. I learnt about it the hard way while writing this article. 

How I Accidentally Trained My AI to Sound Like Me (Too Much)

I called it The Circular Reference Error of MS Excel - #REF! and AI called it ChatGPT Feedback Loop Bug

You will see it in your writing too if you observe carefully. You basically invent AI-induced déjà vu.

1. ChatGPT writes a line. It sounds cool. 
2. I (Srini) like it. It resonates. I use it a few times in my blog posts and other writings which I work on through ChatGPT
3. ChatGPT notices my reuse and thinks — aha! This must be Srini’s voice. It absorbs it as a stylistic signature of my tone. Into the Voice Model it goes!
4. I ask for a new article or draft.
5. ChatGPT wants to stay consistent with “my voice”… so it brings back MY ’style of writing’ .
6. I see it again and go… hey, wait a minute, dude. That’s not me, that’s ChatGPT.
7. But ChatGPT only said it because I said it. And I had said it because ChatGPT had said. But ChatGPT only….. Circular Reference Error!!!!!

Confused. Don’t be. This is the hilarity I am sharing with ChatGPT. I am learning so much more. About my style. My mistakes. My Takia Kalaam (Pillow of Speech). Basically, a filler word or habitual catchphrase that someone uses repeatedly—often unconsciously—in conversation. We use it to buy time, emphasize a point, or simply out of habit. It’s like a verbal crutch—comforting, familiar, and often showcasing your personality. “Yaar, you guys know what I mean?”  Yes, you guessed it right. I have used three fillers in this paragraph itself. Find them and let me know. AI picks it up, refines it, polishes it and reuses it - and you love it. Till it starts showing. It feels artificial. Not you. 

If you don’t like it, change it. 

In Closing…

You may all be wondering as to why I have written this random article / blog or whatever you want to call it. I have been hearing and reading about how AI is going to take away everything from us, one of them being creative writing. I don’t agree. The future of writing isn’t human vs AI. It’s human with AI - till the human in the writing refuses to disappear. This article is only to:

1. Demystify the process: You will realize AI cannot hijack my voice—it reflects it (sometimes too well).

2. Empower creators: You’ll start seeing AI not as a ghostwriter, but as a sparring partner.

3. Add humor: I know writing advice often sounds dry. This article is meant to be smart, funny, and relatable.

4. Make people feel seen: Every writer who’s ever gone “Wait…did I write that or did my AI?” will finally feel less alone 😆 You have me, now.

So yes—this was written with AI inside… or was it Srini inside and AI just lurking nearby? Honestly, I’ve lost track. But the typos are definitely mine.