AI Editors: The Future of Writing?
Debate of the Week
Hi y’all,
It’s Jack with our first Debate of the Week. If you haven’t read the two introduction posts for The YA Section, the Debate of the Week is basically our Daily Controversies (the posts that began Controversial Book Club) made weekly to go lighter on the posts each week. Today we will be discussing AI grammar checkers (such as Grammarly and ProWritingAid).
The question is:
Are AI grammar checkers acceptable for teen writers?
(or writers of all ages, I guess.)
From a teen’s point of view, grammar checkers are simply helpful writing assistants that correct spelling mistakes, grammar errors, and such. But from a parent’s viewpoint, these AIs are doing the work for teens and ridding them of learning proper grammar. But are these online “assistants” actually bad?
For essays, some say they are cheating because the AI may help improve your grade. But for creative writing, it’s really all up to the writer. So the real questions are 1) Do these AIs prevent teen writers from mastering grammar and spelling? and 2) Can these AIs make teen writers become too dependent on them for grammar support thereby failing to use correct grammar and spelling when the AIs are absent?
Well, here’s what I think.
As an all-out grammar police nerd, I certainly do not depend on my AI writing assistant (I use Grammarly) too much for grammar and spelling support. By now, at fourteen, one would hope I know how to spell and use proper grammar (and I do!) but sadly most American teens (the majority being public schoolers and/or video gamers) do not actually know English grammar and spelling well. With these AIs, why bother? But for me, I have Grammarly on right now as I’m writing this post and it’s mainly just fixing typos for me, nothing major.
So I would say Grammarly and other grammar checkers are fine to use for creative writing, essays, blog posts, etc. as long as you are not too dependent on them for correct grammar. To see if you are too dependent on your grammar checker, try this out: when you’re about to write an email, essay, or creative project, turn off your grammar checker and just write. Once you’re done, turn your grammar checker back on and see how many suggestions they have for you. However many suggestions you have will determine how much you depend on your grammar checker. But overall, I believe grammar checkers are not cheating unless they prevent you from actually learning and knowing proper grammar and spelling.
But what do you think? Comment below where you stand in this debate and what you think about grammar checkers in general. Also, since there’s a poll feature on Substack, I’m going to attach a poll below for those who don’t want to comment or debate so you can also have a slight say in the controversy.
Thank you all for participating in The YA Section’s first Debate of the Week! If you like this post, make sure to subscribe if you haven’t already, and I’ll see you in my next post.
Have a blessed day! :)
1st of all, if you're parents don't want you to use it, then don't. 2nd of all, I kinda use grammar check...I think. Sometimes when I'm typing in Google, Google will suggest spell checks or maybe a few grammar things...but I still end up with typos sometimes...so I guess it's not a full grammar check. So here's my opinion, grammar checks are fine to use, but make sure you can also write without them. Don't just let the grammar check go through and then say "I don't need to proofread." Grammar checkers will check, but they're not perfect. So make sure you can write without them. Plus, what are you gonna do the next time you have to hand-write something? Cause you can't use a grammar check for that....
HAVE YALL SEEN MY SPELLING AND MY GRAMMER I RELY ON THESE THINGS TO KEEP ME ALIVE