What Not to Use AI for in Your Writing

Artificial intelligence is one of the biggest disruptors the creative world has seen in years.

And let’s be honest—it’s kind of amazing. You can brainstorm plot points, generate outlines, and even get help editing a tricky paragraph, all in a matter of seconds. For writers who are short on time (read: all of us), it can feel like a dream come true.

But here’s the catch:

AI doesn’t care about you.

It might seem like it does. Honestly, it’s scary empathetic sometimes, so much that it’s easy for people to forget where the line between bot and human begins and ends.

But don’t be fooled.

AI doesn’t care about your book. It doesn’t know your readers. It doesn’t understand what you’re trying to say, what you’ve lived through, or why this project matters so much to you.

And if you hand over too much creative control to it, even in the spirit of convenience, you might find that what you end up with is a pile of soulless garbage that isn’t even really your work anymore.

So, let’s talk about it.

Here are five specific things you should never use AI for in your writing process—and what to do instead if you’re feeling stuck, unsure, or overwhelmed.

Don’t Use AI to Illustrate Your Children’s Book

This is one of the most common misuses of AI right now. And honestly, it hurts more than just authors.

Children’s books aren’t just about telling a good story. They’re about creating a visual experience that invites young readers to connect with the characters, understand emotions, and feel the rhythm of the narrative. Good illustration communicates warmth, whimsy, tension, or safety, all without saying a word.

AI-generated art can’t do that. Not well, anyway.

It struggles with consistency from page to page (for instance, your bear might grow a third arm or lose its backpack halfway through). It usually fails to express real emotion. Most importantly, many AI tools are trained on artwork scraped from real artists—without their permission.

That means using AI-generated images could put you in murky legal territory and ethically questionable waters.

Instead: Hire an illustrator or collaborate with an art student. I know a lot of people in the academic world, and students majoring in art or graphic design are starving for opportunities to build their portfolios. You’ll not only get a better final product, you’ll create something together that truly honors your story and your audience.

Don’t Have AI Design Your Book Cover

Your book cover is your single most important marketing asset.

It’s the first thing people see on Amazon, your website, or the display table at your local indie bookstore. It needs to instantly communicate genre, tone, and professionalism.

AI-generated covers might look slick at first glance, but they’re rarely effective. Fonts are often weird or unreadable. Color palettes might clash. Characters or objects may not look right.  

There also might be major inconsistencies between the cover and the type, especially if you choose to do your interior layout with AI as well.

Worse, AI art often pulls from copyrighted or licensed materials without clear attribution or usage rights. That can land you in serious legal trouble.

And from a reader’s standpoint? AI covers can just feel off and firmly at home in the uncanny valley. That means readers can sense that something’s missing, even if they can’t put their finger on what.

Instead: Work with a professional cover designer who understands genre expectations, marketing psychology, and book formatting standards. Your book deserves a cover that works for you, not against you.

Don’t Have AI Write Your Book Blurb or Author Bio

This might seem like a small thing, but it’s actually huge.

First, let’s define some key terms. Your book blurb is the 150–250 words that convince someone to buy your book. Your author bio is what tells them why they should trust you as the person who wrote it.

AI can write a version of both quickly…but it will sound like everyone else. Bland. Vague. Buzzword-heavy. It won’t capture your tone or your why. And it definitely won’t help you stand out in a crowded market.

I’ve seen bios written by AI that accidentally included fake book titles, misattributed publications, and other errors. You don’t want that showing up on your Amazon page.

Instead: Write your first bio draft from the heart. Then get help polishing it. This is one of those pieces that benefits from an outside perspective because it’s so hard to talk about ourselves well.

Don’t Use AI to Write Anything Personal

If you’re writing a memoir, poetry, or personal essays, I’m going to be as direct as possible:

Do not use AI to write any of it.

You’ve lived through something. Whatever you’re writing about, whether it’s a broken relationship, a spiritual awakening, a funny family story, or a weird experience at summer camp, it came from your actual life.

Just as a reminder, AI doesn’t care about you. AI has no life because it isn’t human. It doesn’t feel anything. It can string together beautiful language, sure, but it’s not rooted in real emotion.

That’s something only you can offer.

The temptation to “clean it up” with an AI “polish pass” is understandable. But in the process, you risk losing the rough edges that make your voice authentic and relatable. Readers don’t connect with perfection. They connect with honesty.

Instead: Embrace the mess. Be vulnerable. Be real. And if you need help shaping it all into something readable and impactful, reach out to someone who understands how to work with personal narrative (hi, that’s what I do).

And most importantly…

For the Love of Everything Good and Beautiful in the World, Don’t Use AI to Write Your Entire Book

I’m not even joking, guys. I’m baffled by how many people I’ve met who think this is acceptable.

Writing a book is hard. It takes time, energy, lots of tears, sleepless nights, and physical pain. Not to mention a massive amount of imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and fear that none of it is going to matter.

That’s why AI can feel like a shortcut. Why not let it generate some chapters? Why not let it write the first draft? You can always clean it up and add your own voice later.

That all sounds good…except if you didn’t actually write it, your book isn’t yours. There’s also that whole thing about ethics and lying and stuff like that, but I get the feeling you know about those things.

You can absolutely use AI to brainstorm or organize your ideas. You might even experiment with letting it write a rough summary of a scene you’ve been avoiding.

But if you turn the whole thing over to a chatbot (who isn’t a human and doesn’t care about you, just as a reminder), what you get in return won’t have your voice, your heart, or your insight. It’ll be a composite of other voices, other stories, other data. It won’t be you.

Here’s the thing: readers want you, not ChatGPT. They want to hear what you have to say. They want to see the world through your lens—not something that’s been statistically averaged for “engagement.”

Instead: Write the first draft yourself—even if it’s terrible. Especially if it’s terrible. You can revise. You can ask for help. You can shape it later. But you can’t outsource authorship and still call yourself the author.

Need Help Figuring Any of This Out?

Inkling Creative Strategies offers services at pretty much every stage of the writing process, including coaching, editing, developmental manuscript reviews, proofreading, and typesetting. Also, as of this past summer, we do marketing services too.

I’d love to connect with you to talk about the part of the process that is tripping you up and see how I can help.

Schedule a free 30-minute consultation, and let’s chat.