The AI Double Standard

Why is coding with AI becoming normal, while writing with AI is treated like cheating?

I've gone back and forth on this.

When AI first became available, I experimented with using it to write. Then I swung too far the other way. I stopped using it for content completely and ran posts through AI detectors to make sure they looked "human".

Now I'm somewhere in the middle.

Most of what I publish is AI-assisted.

I usually start with something that happened to me or an opinion I already have. I dictate it, use AI to organise the mess, see what I've missed, then change anything that doesn't sound like me.

I may not have typed the sentences, but the experience and judgement behind them are mine.

That feels similar to coding with AI. You can get AI to produce the code, but you still need to know what you're building, spot when it's wrong and decide whether the result is worth using.

If the software is shit, nobody cares how quickly it was made.

Why should content be any different?

The obvious exception is when someone uses AI to invent an experience or pump out generic advice based on nothing.

I'm less interested now in whether AI touched the words. I care whether there was a real thought or experience behind them, and whether the result was worth reading.

P.S. I didn't type a single word of this post. I dictated it while pushing a pram with my 10-month-old.

So yes, technically, it probably does seem like AI slop.