AI. How much is too much?

AI. How much is too much? That’s the big question.

Is any AI acceptable in writing? My kneejerk is ABSOLUTELY NOT. But I’m finding there is some nuance in the debate (as there is in pretty much any debate).

The actual writing of the book:

When it comes to actually writing the book, I believe NO AI is acceptable. I’m too much of a control freak anyway. I don’t even let it refine my emails at work—though I have some coworkers who are greatly benefiting from that feature. I want my work to be my voice, even if it can be outside the norm a bit. I think that’s a benefit, not a bug. I purposefully do not want to sound like everyone else. And I want my stories to be my stories. I want to convey the emotion to the reader myself. I want to create interesting and complex characters. If you don’t like to do those things, get out of the writing game.

Editing

I lump this into the same category as above. Maybe it makes me a snob, but I believe writers should know the ins and outs of writing. We should understand grammar, punctuation, story-telling techniques, how to pull emotion out of the reader. But some may say, “We use editors—isn’t that the same thing?” No, I don’t think it is. A good editor helps a writer see certain things from a different angle and asks questions that make the writer think—it’s all human-based. A machine cannot understand that. I guess you could drop your work into AI and tell it to find typos, but that still just doesn’t set right with me. For one thing, Word already makes grammatical suggestions (which are very often wrong) so I doubt AI would be much more help, and secondly, as a writer, I cringe at the idea of dropping my whole work into AI.

“Tests” to confirm if a work is AI

Some claim that you can drop text into AI and have it confirm if it was written by AI. However, I’ve seen more than one story about how past works (much, much older than AI) have been dropped in and come back over 90% AI. For that reason, I caution anyone to judge any contemporary authors.

Em dashes

I’ve heard from several sources that use of em dashes in a work is a sign of AI. Um, no. It’s a sign that a writer knows how to use various forms of punctuation. Most writers do use em dashes.

Google substitute

Where I do think it can be okay to use AI is as a Google substitute during research. Writing requires a lot of research, so having that bit of help organizing information from across the internet is great. Of course, it’s still our job as authors to confirm the accuracy of the information by going to the source material and diving deeper as needed.

Cover art

The cover artist I’m currently working with is hardcore NO AI. I respect her for that. But I don’t know if I would judge anyone too harshly for using AI to some degree on cover art, especially if it’s creating a single element to be encompassed within a larger design, when that larger design was envisioned by the cover artist his/herself. A lot of cover artists use only images they can buy, but you can’t always find exactly the thing you have in your head (though I find AI is not always good at that either).

Illustrations

I do not like the idea of illustrations being AI-generated. I buy a lot of picture books for my 4-year-old and love looking at the illustrations that some artist painstakingly created. Perhaps AI illustrations feel too much like the story itself being written by AI. In picture books, the illustrations are just as important as the words.

Marketing art/memes

This is probably the one semi-artistic area where I don’t care that much. Maybe I should. Afterall, artists put a lot of work into marketing materials too, and I respect that. I guess it doesn’t bother me that much since it’s a supporting aspect of the main work (i.e. the book). Writers were already making their own marketing materials much of the time; AI just helps them do it better.

Those are my brief thoughts. What do you think? Both as readers and/or writers.

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Melissa Koslin is a fourth-degree black belt and certified instructor, with a background in multiple disciplines, including Taekwondo and Krav Maga. In her day job as a commercial property manager, she secretly notes personal quirks and funny situations, ready to tweak them into colorful additions for her books. She, her husband, their young daughter, and two feisty cats live in Yulee, Florida, where they do their best not to melt in the sun. Find more information on her books at MelissaKoslin.com.

Coming 9/15/26: Endless as the Rain

Adriane is kidnapped by the son of a mobster. Alec is certainly dangerous, but is he a threat to her or is he truly trying to protect her from attempts on her life? She must uncover the truth of his past, how it entwines with her own, if she wants to survive. 

If you loved Dangerous Beauty, you'll love Endless as the Rain.