AI Isn’t Making My Writing Faster—It’s Forcing Me to Slow Down
Slowing Down Is An Act of Care.
Using AI is also a decision with environmental consequences. But that’s for another post. Also, I’m experimenting with a more poetic style for this one.
AI, Fast and Slow
AI is supposed to make us write faster.
But lately, I’ve noticed something different:
AI slows down my writing. And slowing down is good.
A few days ago, I drafted a response to an important email. It was quick, efficient, “good enough.” The kind of reply you send just to clear your inbox and keep the momentum going.
My brain—ever the cognitive miser—was delighted. Check the box. Move on. No need to think harder than necessary.
But right before I hit send, something in me hesitated.
A small, inconvenient whisper: This doesn’t feel quite right.
Normally, I would have ignored that feeling. When you’re in task-positive mode, slowing down feels almost irresponsible. Everything in you wants to keep being productive, optimizing effort as much as possible.
Instead, I fired up ChatGPT to work on the draft.
And that tiny act—the friction of switching contexts—pulled me out of doing mode and into thinking mode.
The LLM didn’t replace my writing. It forced me to engage with it more deeply. I prompted. I revised. I sparred. I clarified. The process demanded more of my attention, not less.
By the end, the message I crafted was far better than the version I almost shipped.
Not because the LLM wrote it for me, but because using the LLM interrupted my speed long enough for me to write with intention.
And still, some questions lingered:
Is this just second-guessing myself?
Is using AI undermining my confidence as a writer?
Sometimes, maybe. These are for sure questions I will continue to live with.
But not in this case.
Here, slowing down was the help I needed.
We talk about AI in terms of acceleration, replacement, amplification, augmentation and automation.
But maybe its real value—especially for writing that matters—is its ability to interrupt our autopilot tendencies, add just enough friction, and return us to a more reflective way of thinking.
Sometimes the smartest thing AI can do is make you go slower.