16 September, 2025

Who Helped Me Write This? (Spoiler: It Wasn’t a Ghostwriter – Just MI, my AI Polishing Partner)

 

Yesterday, I shared a story about sitting at a traffic light, feeling a wave of irritation at the car in front of me, and then being surprised by the gentler voice of what I called the “Echo” – my ever-present inner self. I would just like to acknowledge that – that piece I published was not exactly as I first wrote it. I had some help polishing it.

And here’s where I want to pause today. Because as soon as I thought about publishing it, another voice crept in – the voice of doubt: “If the piece was polished with someone else’s help, is it still really mine? Am I less authentic, maybe even an imposter?”

I know I’m not alone in this. Many of us struggle with the same concern – in writing, in work, even in our personal lives. If it isn’t 100% “me” in its rawest form, does it still count as mine?

A short note about that “someone else”: in this case the polishing was done not by a person, but rather with the help of an AI assistant (yes — my “MI,” as a little joke). That matters, because people may be more accepting if the assistance was from another human being. However, they tend to react differently when the helper is not a human editor but rather an AI.

Most readers may readily accept that an editor shaped an autobiography, or that a journalist worked with a copy editor. But when the same polishing comes from AI, some people will instantly raise concerns – authenticity, “cheating,” or loss of human touch. That reaction often reflects deeper biases and anxieties about technology rather than the reality of what was actually changed. For me, being transparent felt simple and important: the ideas were mine; the AI helped clarify them.

Here’s how I’ve started to reframe it.

The Mirror Analogy

When I look in a mirror, I see me. The reflection doesn’t replace who I am; it simply lets me see myself more clearly. My features are the same; the mirror doesn’t invent them.

Now think of the polishing like cleaning a mirror. The reflection doesn’t change; it just becomes clearer. The role of my MI – the AI (if I accept it) is to help shape my raw notes so others see/read/hear more clearly exactly what my heart is intending to say, without distraction. It just sharpens the picture.

That’s what editing feels like. The thoughts are still mine. The story is still mine. The insight is still mine. The polishing simply makes it clearer for others (and sometimes even for myself) to see.

The Autobiography Analogy

The same is true in books. When we read an autobiography, we think of it as the truest account of someone’s life – straight from the source. But even then, most autobiographies are edited, and many are shaped by ghostwriters. Does that make them less authentic? No. The story still belongs to the person who lived it. The polishing simply ensures the voice is carried across in a way that readers can truly hear. And just like an autobiography where the subject has the final say (i.e., gives consent or approval) before the book is published, the final product in my case (the blog entry) is “endorsed” by me. In fact, in the published entry – I still made changes to the polished work adding or removing words or sentences that did not resonate with me.

Seen in this light, authenticity isn’t erased by editing. If anything, it’s amplified. It’s like allowing my story – or yesterday’s traffic light reflection – to travel further and reach more people, rather than staying in my notebook as a half-formed thought.

 

The Echo, Again

And here’s where the Echo comes back. That gentler, wiser voice inside me is not always the loudest at first. Sometimes it takes slowing down – or even the help of another – to let it be heard clearly. The process of polishing my words mirrors the process of listening to the Echo: both are ways of tuning into what’s already there, but with greater clarity and resonance.

So yes – yesterday’s story was mine, and today’s reflection is mine too. The event and the experience were real – as in that truly happened, and not a story created with the use of an AI. The polishing doesn’t make me an imposter anymore than it makes the story unreal.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s something worth sharing – not just for my sake, but for anyone else who has ever worried that their voice wasn’t “pure enough” or “unfiltered enough.”

Sometimes, the clearest version of us emerges not when we insist on standing alone, but when we let the mirror reflect us back, or when an editor helps us tell our story better.


My Raw Draft (if you are interested) – for comparison

Here’s the unpolished version of yesterday’s story, exactly as I first wrote it down:

Today’s contemplation
I had come to a stop at the traffic light. I actually wanted to turn left (which is allowed here at this intersection if thefe were no cars approaching from the right). Unfortunately, there was a car in front of me waiting for the green light that would enable the driver to turn right. I was perfectly ok while waiting as I assumed the driver had another 1 or 2 cars in front of him. Sometimes, “considerate” drivers would move a little more to their right to enable those behind them who needed to turn to pass them. Then, there are other times when a driver would seem “oblivious” to their surrounding or simply didn’t care and would make no effort to let others pass them.

After waiting several minutes, the driver of the car in front of me decided to move a little forward. I looked up at the light, and it was still red. As I slid to my left to pass him I noticed that there was only 1 car in front of him. For a moment I felt irritated and annoyed – thinking to myself “Another inconsiderate driver. You could have moved forward earlier, and I would have been gone.” Almost immediately, my other inner voice said to me, “But isn’t it good that once he noticed there are other cars who may want to turn left, he moved forward? Perhaps he wasn’t even able to move forward earlier because maybe the car in front of him was too close. And when the first car inched forward, the second car was able to move forward to let you pass?”

As I thought that, I felt my irritation dissipate. I was also drawn to the idea of the Echo – our inner voice that is always speaking with us from within. So, I thought – the Echo is not just a voice from our past – not just the messages we had received in our past that continues to shape us today. Perhaps the voice is just our ever present-self within. The part of us that is our authentic self. The one that is calmer, less judging (negatively) – more positive.

As I am contemplating this, I also wondered is that the inner child then? That also means, the inner child is not always about our inner wounded self seeking to be “seen/heard/touched.” He/she is just the part of us that is still a child – innocent and accepting.


Incidentally, the above “raw” writing was my first draft. The final piece that I published was the result of several drafts (at least 3 times) – originating from the raw writing – that went back and forth between my MI and me. I would, “correct” the parts that I felt didn’t capture what I was saying or that did not resonate with me. And yet, when the “final” piece was given to me – that still didn’t turn out to be the final piece. Upon uploading it to my blog and re-reading it, I still made changes before finally publishing it. So, there you go – that’s my story (and this is my writing).

How about you? Have you ever wrestled with the tension between wanting to be “raw and authentic” versus allowing your voice to be polished so it’s clearer for others to hear? Does that make you feel in-authentic? Almost like an imposter or a faker?

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