Last night, AI’s advice left me speechless while I was fixing a quote
At 10 p.m. Friday, I was revising a client quote in a Hangzhou café. AI produced a draft in under a minute, and I sent it off almost instinctively. The client immediately asked, “Did you really write this?” That was when it hit me: AI saves us typing time, but it can add the burden of having to explain our own work. I wasn’t suddenly anti-AI. I was asking a harder question: without it, would I work more slowly, but feel more like a real person?
This isn’t a retreat signal—it’s a more deliberate division of work
In a Guardian interview, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton said humans might be better off without AI. What he was really flagging, I think, is that high-yield work isn’t always good work. Tools can take over searching, summarizing, and drafting, but client trust, aesthetic judgment, and final responsibility still belong to us.
I know an independent designer, Lin Yue, who builds brand websites in Shanghai. She still uses AI to organize competitor research, but writes the final copy and handles client communication herself. “The machine saves me two hours, but what the client recognizes is my judgment,” she told me. That isn’t rejecting AI; it’s reclaiming the decision-making.
Today’s replication: run a small comparison without AI
This test costs nothing: 0 yuan, about 90 minutes, and a technical bar low enough that I can duplicate and compare two versions of the work. First, create two content drafts: one using my usual AI process, the other entirely by hand. Then track the time spent, number of revisions, and how each client reacts after receiving it. A blind selection by a real client is another option, but I wouldn’t collect sensitive data for this test.
I had made the mistake of treating “generated fast” as “delivered well.” AI’s sentences were polished, but they didn’t necessarily sound like my business or my voice. Keeping the old workflow intact also gives me a way back when needed. There’s no urgency to test this today. Protecting the craft matters more than rushing to replace the tool.
At each stage, I’d shift a different kind of responsibility
If I’m just getting started: I’d use AI to outline and gather references, but rewrite every client-facing line myself. I’d reserve one hour each week to check whether it has started making decisions for me.
If I have one or two clients: I’d run a comparison for each project, recording hours saved, rework, and client feedback before deciding which parts are worth automating.
If I’m scaling: I’d keep AI inside the business for research and template drafts, while making it explicit who reviews the work and who owns the outcome. For brand expression and client commitments, I wouldn’t hand final responsibility to the system.
AI can be an assistant. I just wouldn’t let it quietly become my boss.