At work, I’ve been using Microsoft’s AI tool, Copilot. Every day, Copilot drafts excellent emails for me in a very short time with fewer prompts. I feel good when I send these professional emails. Others have suddenly seen me start sentences with “I hope this message finds you doing well.” Something so unusual of me! They think I’ve become polished and refined suddenly.

My paragraphs are well-structured, the content is refined, respectful and solid. Copilot removes unwanted words and looks for language that is sexist or derogatory. I have never communicated so eloquently with so much thoroughness and rigor.

Copilot has started hurting my ego. It beats me to the task almost daily.

Sometimes I wonder why I had invested so much time in learning to write. Why did I spend time reading William Zinsser’s “On Writing Well”? Why did I study Roy Peter Clark’s “Writing Tools”?

A hidden, artificially powered brain has invaded into my cherished space taking over the power of words. AI is like sea weeds polluting a lake. Yet, I feel I am stronger than an artificial tool hidden somewhere. After all, it is created with algorithms that sometimes don’t make sense.

Every day, Copilot summarizes content. It manages my calendar, invades my emails and answers my questions. It strips me off the little privacy I have. Copilot gives me answers to questions fast and saves time.

Still, I lead every day. Copilot can’t form an idea, can’t create a concept that I can sell to an audience. Copilot doesn’t know my target audience as well as I do. It is an inanimate creation. It is ridiculously dumb and algorithmic. It will never understand the needs of my living, vibrant audience of human intelligence.

At the end of the day, I console my hurt ego because Copilot needs a prompt. I don’t need any prompts and I am always on! Poor Copilot needs a caregiver, a prompt generator. I don’t and I win all the time!