Not long ago, I was sitting with a group of indie authors, and the whole table got stuck on one question: should authors use AI to write at all?

Most of them were totally against it. And honestly, they had a point. We’ve all seen the results by now in books, on social media, and even in emails from companies: the pieces that come out clean, correct, perfectly formatted, and completely soulless.

Nobody’s home. You can feel it the second you start reading.

So the table nodded along: AI is the enemy. Case closed.

Except I sat there knowing something nobody was saying out loud: I use it. Not the way they were describing, but I use it. And I wasn’t about to pretend otherwise.

I could lie. Take all the credit, puff out my chest, tell everyone every word came out of me fully formed. Plenty of people do exactly that.

But I am not one of them.

Here’s the truth: I use technology the best way I know how, to help me develop and evolve. That’s not new. That’s the whole story of being human.

Evolution Isn’t a Threat

Evolution isn’t a threat to who we are. It’s how we become who we should be.

Every generation gets its panic. Carriages vs. cars. Computers were going to run our lives. The internet was going to rot our brains. Taxis vs. Uber. Take your pick…

And yes, some bad things happen as we evolve. Jobs disappear, other professions are created. But those same tools also made the world easier, more open, more within reach than ever before. Both things are true at once. They usually are.

So artificial intelligence is just the newest version of that same old fear. And when something new shows up at your door, you really only have two options:

Dig in: Defend your way with both hands, say “this is how I’ve always done it,” and never move an inch. Safe, familiar, yours. Nobody argues with decades of doing it your way.

Or…

Stay open and embrace it: Let the new thing in and see what it actually teaches you.

It’s like driving. You can take the same road for forty years because you know every pothole, every turn, even in the dark. But the day you finally turn on the GPS, you find out there were three faster routes home you never knew about—plus speed traps, traffic, and accidents.

There’s a whole new world you had no clue existed until the first time you followed “the computer.”

Handing Over the Wheel

But here’s the funny part: turning on the GPS doesn’t mean you hand it the wheel. And that’s exactly where people get AI wrong.

They ask it a question and copy-paste the answer straight out. No thought. No fingerprint. No questioning. Just… shinier garbage. Clean grammar wrapped around an empty idea.

That’s not using AI. That’s letting AI use you.

I am speaking from experience, by the way.

When I started in the shade business in 2006, the whole industry measured windows with a metal tape. Always had. I showed up with a laser device.

Was I cheating? I’d say I was working smarter.

The laser made my life easier. It made my numbers more accurate. And yes, it made me look more professional standing in a client’s living room.

But I still carry a tape measure to this day.

The laser gives me the number. Knowing what to do with it was always my job. Technology doesn’t replace people; it empowers them.

AI as an Advisor, Not a Ghostwriter

That’s what ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or whatever tool you prefer should do: inspire you, challenge you, and sharpen you.

For me, it’s simple. English is not my first language. So AI is fantastic for helping me structure a sentence, fix my grammar, and catch the typo I’d never spot on my own. It’s my advisor. It’s the one that says, “Hey Roger, that sentence is 143 words too long.”

It cleans up the how. But the what? That’s mine.

ChatGPT does not climb 15 flights of stairs carrying the drapery tracks that don’t fit in the elevator. I do.

ChatGPT does not travel to Brazil to eat the best pão de queijo in São Paulo. That’s my job.

Those stories are mine. The scars are mine. The dual Brazilian-American way of seeing the world? That’s not something you can prompt into existence. 

What Really Makes You Who You Are

Whether you’re Colombian, American, or Greek, you have your own version too. And no tool can fake it. AI can polish the sentence, but it can’t live your life.

So no, I’m not scared of Artificial Intelligence writing for me. Because it can’t. It can only help me say, a little more clearly, the things I already lived.

The real question was never whether to use the tool. It’s whether you’ve handed over the part that makes you who you are.

Warmly,

About Roger Magalhães

Entrepreneur | Speaker | Storyteller | Author
Different brands. Same high standard.

Connect & Explore:

Official Website: RogerMagalhaes.com
Businesses: Shades In Place | Trading Up Consulting | Blinds Online
Book: Nobody Told Me That
Podcasts: No Strings Attached (US) | Garra Brazuca (BR)
Blog: Explore Previous Articles & Insights