Stop Using AI to Write Your Memos. It Makes You Lazy and Wrong.
When you outsource your writing to an LLM, you outsource your brain and serve your readers vague, subtly wrong garbage.
Tools · Source: Hacker News
What happened
Erich Grunewald published a sharp critique on why you should almost never use AI to write substantive text. He argues that using AI for blog posts, memos, or research reports destroys the thinking process. Even with detailed bullet points or heavy editing, the final product suffers. He believes the act of writing is inseparable from the act of thinking.
The core issue is that writing forces you to find holes in your logic. When an LLM generates the text, it skips this critical friction. It will not stop to tell you your outline makes no sense or that two points contradict each other. Instead, it generates highly convincing, subtly wrong prose. You end up passively accepting approximate words rather than actively forging your arguments.
Grunewald tested Claude on a topic he knows well, AI chip smuggling. The output looked reasonable at a glance. But under scrutiny, it was packed with vague statements, incorrect assumptions about smuggled hardware, and meaningless filler. Claude called chips compact, but smugglers actually move bulky servers. Claude used vague phrases instead of hard numbers for the Bureau of Industry and Security budget. Grunewald argues passing this kind of text off as your own work breaks an implicit contract with readers.
Key facts
- Erich Grunewald — Author arguing against using AI for substantive writing
- Paul Graham — Quoted noting that writing about a topic reveals you know it less well than you thought
- Clara Collier — Argues that the writing process involves constantly thinking and changing your mind
- Bureau of Industry and Security — Agency mentioned in the Claude test prompt that polices chip export controls
- October 2022 — Date the US restricted exports of advanced AI chips to China
Why it matters
Founders use writing to clarify strategy, align teams, and persuade investors. If you use an LLM to draft your pitch or strategy memo, you miss the chance to stress-test your own ideas. You end up nodding along to a machine's approximation of your thoughts. Your word choices lose the specific sensitivity that only a domain expert possesses. The friction of writing is what forces you to realize when your logic is flawed. Removing that friction makes your business vulnerable to unexamined assumptions.
Trust will become a premium asset in the coming years. Anyone can ask an LLM for a generic answer to a problem. If a reader gives you their attention, they expect your unique insight and your specific expertise. As AI-generated filler floods the internet, readers will aggressively filter out founders who publish vague, machine-written content. Authenticity and rigorous human thought will stand out more than ever. If you publish AI text, you signal that your ideas are not worth your own time to write down.
For builders
Risk of subtly wrong technical claims
LLMs mask their ignorance with confident, vague prose. If you rely on them to write technical memos, you risk publishing plausible but incorrect details that damage your credibility with expert buyers. You will not notice the errors unless you already know the topic perfectly.
Use AI for research, not drafting
You do not have to abandon AI entirely. Use models to transcribe audio, analyze data, or brainstorm ideas. Keep the actual sentence generation human to ensure you fully understand your own arguments and maintain your unique voice.
Risk of breaking reader trust
Readers expect your writing to offer value they cannot get by prompting Claude themselves. Publishing unlabelled AI text is rude and trains your audience to ignore your future communications. You lose the audience you worked hard to build.
My take
I see founders using AI to write their investor updates and it always reads like corporate sludge. If you cannot be bothered to write out your own thoughts, I cannot be bothered to read them. Do the hard work of thinking, or get out of the arena.
Original reporting: Hacker News. This is my rewrite and opinion.