I agree with this, obviously, and loved the post.

To me, AI's best use for writers is as a "thesaurus for sentences." More and more of my friends ask it to help them rewrite something in various ways, and I've used it for that too. I'll ask AI to rephrase an idea or sentence, look at what it spits out, and use that to prompt more of my own thinking (rather than copying the sentence verbatim). What words or angles hadn't I considered before, etc? It's exactly the way I use thesaurus.com for individual words. I'll rarely just immediately sub in a word from thesaurus.com, but seeing the options helps me think of... other options. Books, computers, and even words themselves are all tools that can help us think. AI is just another tool for thinking, imo.

And the thing about any tool is that it can be used to enhance and amplify our humanity... or to diminish it. It's all about how skillfully you're using the tool.

All to say, I definitely think there are ways to employ AI to enhance the writing process itself. We're at the *very beginning* of figuring out how these tools can help in that process. Eschewing AI entirely (which you're not doing, but some are) reminds me of those writers who frown upon using a thesaurus... when actually, if you're using it thoughtfully, it's sometimes very helpful!