My AI writing helper hit 100,000 words and I think that's a problem

I use a tool called Grammarly's AI helper for grading papers. Last week, it showed me I had written over 100,000 words with its help this school year. That number scared me. It means I'm leaning on it for basic thinking, like how to phrase feedback to a student. Everyone says these tools make us better, but I think they are making me a worse writer. I have to stop and think for myself more. Has anyone else felt their own skills get weaker while using an AI helper?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancy8201mo ago

Wow, that number would freak me out too. I had a similar wake-up call with auto-correct on my phone (I know, not the same, but hear me out). My spelling got so bad I couldn't write a simple note without it. What helped was forcing myself to draft the whole thing first, no help at all, even if it was messy. Then I'd run the tool after, just to catch real mistakes. It felt clunky at first, but my own voice came back. Maybe try turning it off for your first pass at feedback?

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walker.hayden1mo ago

Yeah, that first draft trick is key. I mean, I started doing that with emails at work and it's wild how much clearer they get when it's just my own brain talking. Did you find it hard to ignore the red squiggly lines at first? I had to physically cover that part of the screen for a while. It feels like retraining a muscle, but now I catch my own dumb typos way better before I even run the checker.

cameron_chen15d ago

But what if the red lines actually help you think better? I kinda like having them there as a safety net so I can just focus on getting ideas out fast. Doesn't it slow you down to do two full passes?