Vol.06: Making Expressions Your Own by "Refining" Them — How to Keep AI from Being Just a Tool —
The things AI produces are often quite well-refined.
The flow of words is natural, and the composition is sound.
But even so, it feels somewhat lacking as "my own expression."
This time, I'd like to talk about the concept of "refining."
Instead of using what comes out exactly as it is, how do we add "ourselves" to it?
I'll organize some thoughts I've been having lately.
It looks good. But it's a bit too polished.
The copy and images that AI produces are generally not bad to look at.
The flow is coherent, and there are few strange phrasings.
But I don't find myself saying, "Yes, let's go with this."
When I think about why that is, it's because "what I want to do" isn't included in it.
Refining means re-assigning meaning.
When you hear "refining," you might imagine correcting words or slightly adjusting a composition.
But in reality, it's closer toadding your own unique meaning to it.
It could be rearranging the order of sentences, softening words that are too strong, or conversely, sharpening expressions that are a bit vague.
As you stack up these small revisions, you start to feel, "Ah, these are my own words now."
I feel that is closer to the actual experience of the act of "refining."
Before refining, dialogue with AI is crucial.
What I feel especially lately is that while the power to refine is important,
before that,what kind of output you can draw outis surprisingly significant.
And that quality is ultimately determined bythe depth of your dialogue with the AI.How you convey things, how you ask questions.
I feel that the more effort you put into that, the more the words that come back change.
Many people tend to think that "if you just input keywords and a target, a good piece of writing will come out," but in reality, it's not that simple.
A person's way of thinking and what they want to say should be more complex and more personal.
Why write this?
Where are the sticking points?
In what order should it be conveyed to reach the audience?
By interacting with the AI and drawing these things out little by little, you finally get "usable material."
Because that exists, the act of refining gains meaning.
Refining also requires knowledge and sense.
Assuming you refine after interacting with the AI, another important thing there is theknowledge and senseI mentioned before.
That feeling of "something feels off" actually works precisely because you have a solid background.
Noticing that this order won't convey the message, or that this expression doesn't match the tone—you can only notice such discrepancies because of your past experiences.
I believe the act of refining isthe work of facing the "discrepancies that become visible because you know."
How to refine it so your own voice resides within
In my case, this is how I refine things.
Change the order
Adjust the tone of the phrasing
Shift the center of gravity of the information
Add or remove words to suit the person you are communicating with
Checking whether the tension between the headings and the body text matches, or whether the meaning comes across at a glance—these are also things I review.
What I'm doing is modest, but through it, 'my own voice' starts to come through.
Sometimes it's more than refining; it's restructuring
Sometimes, I completely change the structure that came out.
I might cut the beginning or redefine the core.
At that point, it's no longer 'refining,' but closer to 'reconstructing.'
But by doing that, I finally get the feeling that 'this is what I wanted to say.'
The feeling of speaking returns
At first, it feels like 'I'm looking at something AI wrote,' but as I refine it, there comes a moment when I can think, 'This is a text I am speaking.'
When that feeling returns, I finally feel like I've regained control.
Refining is co-authoring
Refining isn't just correcting; it is also having the realization that you are co-authoring.
You take what the AI wrote and re-select it, thinking, 'That's not it,' or 'This way it will get across.'
You change the order or tweak the phrasing.
Only by doing that does it become 'a text I have edited.'
If the AI is a co-author, then I am the editor and the storyteller.
When you can reach that kind of relationship, I feel that the expression finally becomes 'your own.'
Conclusion
The work of refining is modest, but it has a definite meaning.
By doing it, you can think, 'These are my own words,' and the AI stops being just a tool and starts to function properly as an assistant.
Next time, I will discuss how expressions refined in this way are received in actual work and interactions.
I will write about relationships with clients and how to communicate that you are using AI.