The Right to Write

Yes, I used AI to help write this.

That doesn’t make it less me. In fact, it makes it more me—because now I can finally say what I’ve always wanted to say, clearly, consistently, and in a voice that feels just right.

I’ll admit it—I’ve always dreamed of capturing my thoughts and perspective in a weekly opinion column. Ideally, it’d land in the local newspaper. And maybe, just maybe, one day it would go syndicated. Maybe even global.

But the system was broken.

First, you had to know how to write. Not just string sentences together—but write in a way that conveyed thought, tone, perspective.
Then, you had to be chosen. Approved by those who came before you. The gatekeepers. (Let’s call them what they were—the editors.)
They decided who was worthy of being published.

And yet, the thoughts—the ideas, the insights—those were yours. If you were lucky, you could build momentum around them. Keep writing. Keep being heard.

But now? Now the game has changed. Writing has been democratized.

Sure, things are still a bit clunky. Everyone's posts start to look and sound the same. Same vibes. Same emojis. Same long hyphens and crisp, punchy phrases.

But the real message—especially to those writers of the past who believed writing was a domain for the few—is this:
That era is over. Sorry.

Now the question isn’t can you write—it’s:
Do you have a perspective worth sharing?
Do you have a lens that’s your own?
Do you have, as TED says, "ideas worth spreading"?

If so—welcome.
You’ve got AI now. It can help polish your raw thoughts into something structured, compelling, even beautiful.
It can carry your voice into blogs, newsletters, maybe even newspapers.

The gatekeepers are gone.

I’ll be honest—though I’ve always wanted to write, I never had the time. Or the writing chops. But I’ve always had ideas. Plenty of them.

And I’ve always read—books on books on books.
In fact, the idea of finally writing came from my very first book club experience.

If you’re a bookworm, you know what I mean. That feeling of catching a so-so book or a true page-turner? That spark of perspective? I’ll leave it to the real writers among you to decide if you feel it here.

So, here I am. Flexing my writing muscles. Or to put it in IT terms—my day job—I’ve outsourced the mechanics of writing to where it can be done best. A low-cost, high-efficiency assistant.

But the ideas? Those are still mine.
The edit, the tone, the voice—that’s me too.

And here’s the truth: Everyone should feel free to use AI tools to write. That’s what they’re for—to help make us better.

But I’ll always be scanning for originality.
Because original thought? That’s rare. No one can churn it out daily. Not even the best of us.

So here’s my approach: I write at the intersection of tech, business, AI, and yes—media. I write about what fascinates me.

I learn from the best—through books and long-form podcasts. I listen to deep thinkers, digest their ideas, and summarize their insights… for myself first.
But also to share it with the world. A digest of their original thinking, seen through my lens.

Enjoy. And if it resonates, feel free to subscribe.

I’ll keep showing up—sharing honest takeaways (with help from my AI co-writer, of course).
And every so often, something like this: an original thought, in my own words.

And yes, I edited this with AI.
How can you tell? The suspiciously smooth flow. The suspiciously long dashes. The suspiciously un-suspicious grammar.
Lol.

—Atnes