AI Collaboration Writing
AI-Collaboration Writing
The one rule: voice is human-load-bearing; AI is everything else
A writer’s distinctive voice is the residue of their judgment. An LLM, trained on the global mean of internet prose, regresses toward that mean. The collaboration mode this skill defends keeps the human responsible for voice and uses AI for tasks where the mean is fine (mechanics, structure, length compression, format conversion).
The four collaboration modes
| Mode | Who drafts | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| I draft, AI edits | Human | High-voice prose: essays, opinion, memos |
| AI drafts, I edit | AI | Boilerplate: status updates, release notes |
| I prompt with a style sample | AI (constrained) | New work in the author’s existing voice |
| AI redlines, I decide | Human | Manuscript-level critique without overwriting |
The voice-transfer problem
LLMs default to five patterns:
- Hedging. “It’s worth noting that…”
- Triadic rhythm. Three-item lists replace one strong word.
- Topic-sentence tax. Every paragraph opens with a meta-sentence.
- Latinate verbs. “Utilize,” “facilitate,” “leverage.”
- Bridge phrases. “Furthermore,” “moreover.”
Disclosure ethics (2026 consensus)
| Use level | Disclosure required? | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Grammar / spell check | No | None |
| AI-suggested edits, accepted/rejected by human | Usually no | “Edited with AI assistance” if required by venue |
| AI drafted, heavily rewritten by human | Yes | “AI-assisted” |
| AI drafted, lightly edited by human | Yes | “AI-written, human-reviewed” |
Tier 1 banned words (anti-AI-isms)
delve, leverage, robust, paradigm, seamless, utilize, commence, facilitate, furthermore, navigate, landscape, cutting-edge, holistic, ecosystem, harness (verb), foster (verb)