ChatGPT role-plays myself

I asked ChatGPT 5.5 to rewrite Imas’ post in the style of myself. This is the post:

“Here is my take on AI writing. I don’t personally like it, but that’s taste, and I’m sure it’s possible to post train the model to write “well” (conditional on some notion of taste). But that’s besides the point for me: AI writing makes all writing sound the same. If you use AI enough it takes about 30 seconds into a piece to realize it, and then my brain kind of shuts off because that’s the 20th time that day I’ve read the same cadence and tone.

For code it’s fine since the only goal is to get it to run. But if you’re trying to write, eg a substack, part of the goal is to keep the reader engaged and connected to you—the writer—and for that you need to have your own “voice”."

AI for writing is a shortcut. And for some purposes it makes a lot of sense. But I think for writing it is in the interest of the writer to differentiate themselves by using their own voice. Especially as more and more people start using AI.”

This is the result:

"My view on AI writing is perhaps less "AI is bad" and more "AI compresses variance".

I don't personally enjoy reading most AI-generated writing, although that is largely a matter of taste. I assume it is entirely possible to post-train models into writing "well", conditional on whatever objective function one has in mind.

But that isn't really my concern.

The issue is that AI writing increasingly converges toward a similar cadence and tone. After enough exposure, one develops a kind of detector. Roughly thirty seconds into reading something, you realise: I've already read this nineteen times today.

And then my brain quietly switches off.

Code feels different. The objective function for code is fairly clear: does it run? Does it solve the problem? Elegant code is nice, but ultimately secondary.

Writing serves a different purpose. If you're writing a Substack, an essay, or even a long X post, part of the output is not merely information transfer. The writer themselves is part of the product. You want readers to remain engaged, but also to feel some connection with the person behind the words.

That requires a voice.

AI is obviously useful as a shortcut. For some tasks it is a very good shortcut. But I increasingly suspect that for writing, as more people adopt AI, preserving your own style becomes more valuable rather than less.

Differentiation compounds."

I'm not impressed. The first time I've been dissappointed with Chat, which is a large signal on the quality of AI prose.