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💡 The Big Idea: Using AI isn’t psychological fraud. Pretending you did the thinking is.

I was listening to a recent Deep Life podcast episode last week and heard Cal Newport describe a concept he calls “psychological fraud.”

I’ve been pretty open about the fact that I use AI in my creative process. And I also completely agree with Cal here.

In this newsletter, I want to address some of the nuance that I think is missing when you make the argument “don’t use AI to write.”

What is Psychological Fraud?

I really like the way that Cal frames psychological fraud here. I do think that people rightfully hate reading something they think a person wrote only to find out that AI wrote it.

But I personally believe AI is not a switch; it’s a dial.

On one side, the zealots will use it for everything. On the other side, the purists won’t use it for anything. But I think the real place to draw the line is somewhere in the middle.

For example, if you use a grammar check like Grammarly before you publish something, you’re using AI. Those words that Grammarly changes aren’t technically yours, but absolutely no one would feel like AI wrote something simply because you checked your spelling and grammar before you hit publish.

But that’s a pretty extreme example. Here’s another one:

I’ve heard Stephen Robles share on Mac Power Users that he uses ElevenLabs to clone his voice for a podcast version of his newsletter. He still writes the words, but you might feel a little more uncomfortable about listening to his simulated voice. I understand that people don’t want to be tricked into thinking it’s actually Stephen, and that is a risk if you were to just start listening without all the context. But he doesn’t try to hide it, and he’s said the podcast version wouldn’t exist if he had to record it himself, so IMHO it’s worth it.

The point is that it’s not just black and white when it comes to using AI in the creative process.

Where AI Fits in the Creativity Flywheel

For years, I’ve been using a framework I call The Creativity Flywheel to codify my creative process. And as I’ve written about before, I do think that AI is useful at every step:

• Capture: Eliminate the friction when capturing, but you still decide what matters
• Curate: Resurface old captures, but don’t summarize or decide what to keep
• Connect: Suggest connections, but never make them
• Cultivate: Pressure test ideas, but don’t provide the perspective
• Create: Break blank-page resistance, but don’t let it “write” and muffle your voice

I believe there are benefits and traps at each stage of the Creativity Flywheel. And I agree completely with Cal’s larger point that cognitive friction is a good thing:

But I also believe that everyone is creative, and sometimes it’s hard to get started. I’m not opposed to using training wheels as you learn to ride a bike. Which is why I’m not a fan of his proposed solution:

I do think we need to be honest about when and how AI is involved in the process. Personally, I’m trying to create the best work I possibly can, which is why my philosophy is “Made with ❤️ & AI.”

Cal Newport is correct that the best version is that you don’t need AI because you’ve got the flywheel humming. But I don’t believe you can tell aspiring creators to just sit down and write until it gets easier.

How I’m Doing My Best to Avoid Psychological Fraud

Here’s where I’m drawing the lines when it comes to using AI:

1. I never let AI provide the perspective. I may ask questions about an idea I captured (like this one from Cal’s podcast) to figure out what I really think about something, but I’m deciding for myself what I think. You can’t delegate the thinking! That’s the whole point.
2. I own every word I say or publish. Sometimes the way AI says it is the best way to say it. If I really like a particular sentence or phrase, I may decide to keep it, but I make sure it’s something I personally believe, and if I were writing it by hand, I would say it the exact same way.

For me, it all comes down to a simple question:

Can I defend every idea in this without using AI as a crutch?

As I wrote about previously, you don’t need to be the one who came up with an idea to actually own it. Everything is a remix, so I don’t believe it matters whether AI helps you get there. What matters is whether you understand the idea well enough to defend it on your own.

If I can’t do that, then my reader isn’t connecting with my mind; they’re connecting with the machine.

That is psychological fraud.

See My Process in Action

The hard part about talking about this topic is that words can’t explain it as well as a video can. Which is why I want to share a video from the Amplify cohort I led back in August where I walk through my entire chat thread as I put together a complete newsletter from idea to finished work:

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This is the exact process I use to write my newsletters, and the result is the best (and I’d argue legitimately human) version of the idea that I originally had. I did the same thing with this newsletter and ran it through Pangram (a popular AI checker) just to see what it thought, and the result was 100% human:

That’s not me trying to trick the tool and say that AI wasn’t involved. But it shows that you can use AI and still own the ideas, the thinking, and your unique voice.

If you’re interested in this but missed the cohort, I’m putting the finishing touches on the self-paced version of this. The cohort was $699 when I led it live, but I’m offering a pre-sale price on the self-paced version of $297 ($200 off the regular price of $497) until it’s officially available at the end of October.

The Bottom Line: Made with ❤️ & AI

Cal is right that psychological fraud is real, and I’m glad he’s shining a light on this. When someone reads your writing, they deserve to be connecting with you, not your chatbot.

But I don’t think we should avoid using AI completely or slap a disclaimer on everything it touches. The problem of people not thinking for themselves existed long before AI was a thing.

So use AI to get unstuck. Use it to pressure test your ideas. Use it to find those hidden connections you forgot about.

Just don’t let it decide what you think.

— Mike

P.S. My wife & I will be leading another LifeTheme cohort in a couple of weeks! If you want to be notified when it's open, click here.