The Pencil Of The Future - by Kirill Zubovsky - The Novice
When you use an AI system to write, who do you think deserves credit for the work—you, or the AI? This question came up in my daughter’s school, sparking a lively debate at home. At first, my wife was convinced that the AI deserved most of the credit since it generated the text. However, as the conversation unfolded, she began to see things my way: the work belongs entirely to my daughter.
Let me make the case that writing with the help of AI is 100% your work. The AI is just a tool—a powerful tool, but one that doesn’t deserve any credit for the creative process.
My daughter initially reasoned that because she provided the prompt and the AI wrote the essay, the effort was split 50/50. My wife countered that a single prompt is minimal effort compared to a full essay, so most of the credit should go to the AI.
Imagine a child writing an essay with a pencil. She conceives the story, envisions the characters, and carefully crafts the narrative. Two or three hours later, her essay is done. Would anyone argue that the pencil deserves credit for the work? Of course not—the pencil is merely a tool.
