I recently came across a few pieces arguing that AI is eroding our ability to write, and along with it, our ability to think clearly. I get the point. If machines can write for us, then what happens to our own voice, our ability to wrestle with ideas, or even just put coherent thoughts together?
But here’s the twist: the way we use AI today, especially tools like ChatGPT, is primarily through writing. Not polished, publish-ready writing, but something far more subtle and surprisingly complex: the prompt.
Think about it. To get anything useful out of AI, you have to write to it. A simple sentence, a set of instructions, a nudge in the right direction. And the better your prompt, the better your results.
It sounds simple enough, but prompting is quickly becoming an art form of its own. It’s not about elegant phrasing or grammar perfection. It’s about capturing the essence of what you’re trying to achieve. It requires clarity of thought, a sense of purpose, and most importantly, an ability to see the big picture.
This is not the same as traditional writing, where words carry the burden of detail, beauty, and persuasion. Prompting is more like conceptual scaffolding: you start with an idea and an outcome, and you use the machine to fill in the rest. It’s less about the words themselves, and more about the thinking behind them.
In that way, prompting doesn’t erode thinking, it reveals it.
Because a strong prompt begins with a strong mind. It forces you to consider - What do I really want to say? What am I trying to uncover or create? What outcome am I hoping for?
This shift from writing as expression to writing as direction is part of a broader change in how we communicate, especially with machines. We’re moving toward a world where natural language becomes the primary interface. We’re no longer learning the language of machines. Instead, they’re learning ours. That’s huge.
But here’s the thing: natural language doesn’t mean lazy language.
If anything, the rise of AI is putting more pressure on us to be better thinkers, sharper communicators, and more precise in how we ask questions. Prompting well demands discipline, clarity, and a kind of architectural thinking where the foundation matters more than the decorations.
We’re no longer just writers. We’re becoming architects of ideas, building prompts that act like blueprints for machines to execute. And that’s no small shift.
So maybe the question isn’t whether AI is eroding our ability to write, but whether we’re adapting our writing to meet the moment. In this new world, it’s not about stringing pretty words together. It’s about shaping clear ideas, asking better questions, and being intentional in how we communicate.
And maybe, just maybe, that’s a deeper form of literacy than we’ve ever known before.