Signal Over Noise #25
October 22nd, 2025
Dear Reader,
Part 1
Using AI isn’t cheating. It’s an accessibility tool.
Some people have brilliant ideas but struggle with formal expression. Some communicate differently due to neurodivergence or disability. Some are non-native speakers fighting an uphill battle with English conventions. AI can give them a voice.
But here’s the problem — most people use AI in ways that replace their voice instead of amplifying it. They end up sounding like everyone else using the same tool the same way.
The solution isn’t to stop using AI — far from it. It’s to teach AI what your voice actually sounds like.
Next week, I’ll show you exactly how to build a style guide that does this. But first, we need to talk about why it matters, because the ethics matter more than the tactics.
The False Binary
There are two camps shouting at each other about generative AI, but perhaps more particularly about writing:
Camp 1: “AI writing is cheating, inauthentic, and fundamentally bad.”
Camp 2: “AI writes better than humans anyway, just let it.”
Both are wrong.
Here’s a different position that I would rather take — AI as an accessibility tool, a thinking partner, and a voice amplifier. The problem isn’t in the mere usage of AI, it’s using it lazily in ways that replace your voice instead of extending it.
So what does that mean? - Using AI to structure scattered thoughts? Accessibility. - Using AI to express complex ideas more clearly? Amplification and clarity. - Using AI to maintain consistency across formats? Extension.
But: - Using AI to copy everyone else’s generic style? Laziness.
When people say “AI writing isn’t real writing,” they’re essentially saying “if you can’t express yourself perfectly in the traditional way, your ideas don’t count.”
That’s ableist, classist and exclusionary.
Some people have brilliant ideas but struggle with formal expression. Some people communicate differently due to neurodivergence or disability. Some people are non-native speakers fighting an uphill battle with English academic and business conventions.
Did I say some people? ‘Cause I meant ‘many’.
I once had a 10 year old boy from Italy join the school I was teaching at, mid-year. He barely spoke a word of English. He certainly couldn’t write it, and he found things generally frustrating. But in my computer classes, where he had access to recording his own voice and translating his words? That was a transformative experience for him. Using AI falls right into the same camp — if using AI can give someone a voice, and that’s not cheating, it’s equity.
Why Your Voice Actually Matters
In a world flooded with AI content, you need to have a differentiator, and — guess what — I don’t mean which LLM you’re using. Having an authentic voice is your differentiator. People unconsciously detect AI writing and trust it less — even when they can’t articulate why. These days just the sight of an em dash — something I use frequently (and will continue to do so) — is enough to dismiss writing out of hand. I looked at the research and shared it with you back in Issue 12.
People can consciously detect AI-generated text only about 53% of the time, which is barely better than a coin flip. But perhaps more importantly, they unconsciously react to it, which in turn leads to less sharing, less engagement and ultimately, lower trust.
But detection accuracy can drop to around 50% when humans take the time to edit AI output, and that’s proof that editing matters. It’s also proof that people with higher reasoning skills are better at spotting AI — meaning your smartest readers will notice when your voice sounds generic.
Your readers, audience, clients — whomever is on the other end of your keyboard — they’re not paying for information. They can get that anywhere. They’re paying for your perspective and voice. Generic AI voice can destroy trust that took years to build.
In Issue 20, I wrote about detecting AI slop in cold outreach and the signals people unconsciously recognize, like: - Vague superlatives like “impressive company” or “industry-leading” - Flattery sandwiches — compliment, pitch, compliment - Perfect grammar with zero original insight - The 30-second test: “Could this be sent to anyone in my industry?”
If your content passes that test — if it could be for anyone — you’ve lost your voice.
AI is a polarizing topic and will continue to be one for a long time coming. People want hot takes and hype, or they want you to tell them it’s all garbage and finding the middle ground means constantly disappointing both camps. But I maintain that that middle ground — where accessibility meets authenticity — is where the actual value lives.
What AI Should Actually Do
The problem AI solves for me — my brain generates ideas faster than I can articulate them. Before I started using it with more regularity and purpose, I just had loose collections of notes and ideas and projects sitting around. Without structure, it’s just noise. With AI as a thinking and planning partner, the ideas have become coherent without losing what makes them mine.
But this only works if I teach AI what “mine” sounds like, and continue to iterate.
AI should make you more efficiently yourself.
Not: - More formal - More impressive - More professional - More like everyone else
But: - More efficiently yourself - More clearly your thinking - More consistently your voice
The standard I use — if someone who knows me couldn’t tell this came from me specifically, I keep editing.
That’s the bar. Not “does this sound professional?” Not “does this look polished?”
Does this sound like me?
Why This Matters
Your voice is what makes your writing worth reading. Not the information — anyone can find that. Your perspective, your thinking, the way you explain things.
Whatever makes your writing distinctively yours — the tangents, the honesty, the rough edges — those aren’t bugs to be fixed. They’re features to be preserved and celebrated.
Because if you become indistinguishable from every other AI-assisted writer, what’s the point?
What’s Coming Next Week
Next week, I’ll show you how I built my style guide, including the specific prompts I use, the iteration process, the red flags to watch for during editing and the workflow that keeps my voice intact while using AI to work faster.
But before tactics, you needed to understand the ethics.
Because if you’re using AI to sound more generic, more corporate, more like everyone else — you’re using it wrong.
AI should help you be more efficiently yourself, and that’s what we’re building together.
Your homework for next week: Find 5-10 pieces of your best writing. The stuff that feels most “you.” Newsletter issues where your voice came through. Blog posts that felt natural. Social media posts where you weren’t performing. Heck, even an email that you’re proud of - we’re going to need them.
If you’re neurodivergent, if you’re a non-native speaker, if you have accessibility challenges, if your brain moves faster than your typing, if you have brilliant ideas trapped inside — this isn’t cheating. This is levelling the playing field.
See you next week with the system.
Jim
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Signal Over Noise is weekly, reader-first publication on AI “without the hype” published by Jim Christian. If you’ve been forwarded this issue, you can subscribe for free: go.signalovernoise.at
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