Joshua Jarvis

January 1, 2025

Writing With Confidence In 2025

The message is out. We can now write convincingly great content with AI. But should we? 

I have to confess, I have been guilty of using ChatGPT to generate everything from my resume, profile summary and some communications at work. 

Around the time of ChatGPT 3.5 I can recall applying to a job and getting an immediate reply with my overly polished cover letter and resume. But then everyone else got the message and we all started to sound the same. 

Then I thought I was clever when I would write something, transform it, edit it, and repeat. I even embarrassingly experimented with adding a touch of personalization -- "Can you reformat this to sound like a combination of Alan Kay and Steve Jobs?". Even with the layers of processing I ended up with something that was not my voice. 

It's bad enough that we lose our voice when we edit our writing with AI. But even more concerning when we lose the confidence to speak and communicate. Worse yet we lose the ability to think critically. 

When you write your ideas are laid bare. The writing process puts them down for yourself or anyone else to read and critique. It's an act of bravery that requires real fine tuning of your ideas. There's no faking it. You only get better with practice. 

As a result of AI lots of people, myself included, want to build a influencer identity. But no one is going to get there with AI generated content. It's not to say that these tools can't be used as a part of the creative process. But humans want real authentic content. Recruiters can smell the AI generated content in 2025. It's sterile overly rhythmic and just off. You aren't going to land that dream job faking your way in with a voice that's not your own. You only get there finding your own voice. 

We used to encourage our kids to learn to code. Tech literacy is important. But writing and communicating effectively is the single most important skill from my experience. AI has encouraged all of us to become rusty at this skill. 

This year I want to focus on writing honestly and often. I can't wait to share more!