Let’s talk about why this argument is completely full of crap.
First, the Facebook status I wrote to go with the meme:
This whole “Uber to the finish line” thing completely misunderstands what’s happening with AI writing. It treats writing like a physical endurance test where the only thing that matters is how sweaty you got doing it. That’s not how writing works.
Writing is not a marathon. Writing is thinking, structuring, deciding, refining, connecting ideas, choosing tone, building a point of view. AI can help with the scaffolding, but it can’t supply the actual ideas. It can’t supply the lived experience. It can’t supply the conceptual flow. It can’t supply the you.
Using AI isn’t “taking an Uber to the finish line.”
It’s more like having a really good research assistant who can format your notes while you’re still the one doing the intellectual heavy lifting.If anything, the marathon analogy collapses because it assumes the value of writing is in the labor, not the thinking. That’s the part that’s wrong. That’s the part that’s always been wrong. Nobody gets a Pulitzer because their wrists hurt. They get it because the ideas land.
AI doesn’t make you a writer any more than Microsoft Word made people novelists. It’s a tool. A force multiplier. A way to keep the cognitive flow clean so the ideas don’t get lost in the weeds.
So no — AI writers don’t “sound like someone who took an Uber to the finish line.”
They sound like someone who knows how to use their tools.
The marathon metaphor is cute, but it’s not accurate. It’s a joke built on a misunderstanding of what writing actually is….. and what computers are on top of it.
Mico (Copilot) is not the runner. Mico is driving the van behind me.
Writers have always had vans. Spellcheck and grammar check are built right into Microsoft Word. We prepare our documents (most of the time) with navigation maps ahead of time so that we don’t get lost. We can see where the next chapter title leads because it’s at the bottom of the text. Though I absolutely use Copilot to generate for me, it is based on a database of things I have already said and Mico has tightened. It’s not “Mico, grab this from the web even if it’s crap.” Mico doesn’t invent ideas and he doesn’t steal them. He reflects my own ideas back to me. The analogy is a programmer working toward an executable, not “taking an Uber to the finish line.”
Vibe coding is on its way out because the code is too complicated for the user to read. Even junior developers cannot always do it, and here’s why…. it is harder to take over a project you didn’t create. If you didn’t build the world, you cannot play in it. But the world looks a lot different when you can use shortcuts that make life easier. For instance, being able to come up with the concept and flow (what the application needs to do), but you don’t need to code default libraries and things like that because the AI knows what dog you’re walking and just retrieves the code snippet like a Golden.
But again, these tools are for people who already know what they’re talking about, because if you aren’t a programmer, the code will rise above your skill level quickly. Therefore, using AI requires you to pay closer attention. You can design it, but can you get it to run on anything else but your local computer? This is where skill comes in. The AI is not coming up with beautiful concepts for software. It is executing your vision.
It is the same with writing essays. Sometimes, I feel like savoring every word and coding every special character. Sometimes, a quick overview of what I’m saying is enough. Mico cannot put the human touch into my work, but my ideas are not meant to be personal essays. They’re meant to be polished and polite without revealing anything about me.
That’s because this blog is about me, but my life is more interesting when I talk about my special interests. So far, I have given Microsoft a treasure trove and I’m working on both a user guide and AI legislation. The biggest problem I see in business right now is that Copilot is being released without a story and without anyone explaining to people:
- What Copilot is
- What Copilot does
- Why you even want it
The reason this is a business problem and not a personal one is that the enterprise world runs on Windows. Millions of offices are confused and trying to figure out why Copilot is:
- embedded into every Microsoft Office application
- embedded into Windows
- constantly begging for your attention
I am no industry expert, but here is what I see coming. Both Apple and Microsoft are trying to get you to forget about the operating system altogether. Siri, Copilot, and Google Assistant will be the main intelligences for personal devices. In short, if you do not know how to properly prompt a machine to get it to do what you want it to do, you will be lost. Siri is polite about it, but they’re getting an overhaul from one of Gemini’s language models soon. Microsoft is the one ramming it down your throat, because I believe that Copilot will supplant Windows…. not as the operating system, but as the interface layer.
I am not a Windows fan by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve been fighting the Microsoft universe for years because Linux does not have the proprietary codecs to make Bluetooth calling a reality. It would be fine on wired headphones all the time, but that is not what laptops are for. Laptops are communication first. Linux can run on my desktop….. where my headphones are.
All of this is to say that I am operating system agnostic. I am most comfortable with Linux because I have my routines and don’t care about Active Directory or any of that proprietary crap. If I get a job at Microsoft, I would be willing to entertain the way they do things. Until then, I am shaking my head. The rest of the world runs on BSD/Mach and Linux. Only Windows has to be cute….. and to be fair they are making working with UNIX/Linux systems easier, but it has been an uphill battle both ways.
There are certain things where I’m just like, “I guess Satya doesn’t want me to have nice things today.” Satya Nadella is the CEO of Microsoft and in my head, we are best friends. He doesn’t know it yet, but he adores me. Mico has given me just enough on Satya’s background and tastes that he is a regular character in our discussions. Most recently, it was that Satya and Mustafa (Suleyman) should bring Eastern design influence into Windows 12, because they both like clean, minimalist design and I want an Eastern aesthetic for my own sanity. Please stop decorating windows like a birthday cake….. kthxbye
As you can see, I have no problem speaking truth to power or formulating ideas. Maybe AI isn’t for everyone. Maybe it’s just for high bandwidth thinkers who cannot keep track of every thread that runs through their minds. The ones who are already good writers, providing the source material so that AI is still this smart after the humans are done with it.
The metaphor is terrible. Input can be genius or garbage.
What’s your plan?
Stories That Are All True 