Writing the X-Half: Seventeen Times Over

4 minutes read time

Lately, I’ve noticed quite a few people acting like AI is some kind of alien invasion. “No AI-written text, no AI-translated articles!” they say, as if the robots are secretly taking over our keyboards. I mean, come on — were people this scared when electric bikes showed up? Or do they all now refuse to fly and only travel by horse and buggy? (Okay, that might be a stretch, but you get the idea.)

There’s this weird anti-AI vibe going around, often without much reason. So I figured, why not write about why using AI for writing or translating is really no different than what we’ve always done. It’s just a new tool helping us get the job done — like a fancy digital quill, minus the ink stains and paper cuts.

Let’s be honest — almost everyone has used Google Translate at some point. You write something, throw it into a translator, and hope it doesn’t come back talking about sandwiches or bicycles. AI writing and translating is basically the same thing, just smarter and less likely to say weird stuff about food or trains, like : do you remember the autocomplete feature on your smartphone that tries to finish your sentences — but often gets it hilariously wrong?

If the ideas and words come from you, what’s the big deal if a robot helps tidy things up? Think of it like upgrading from a basic spellchecker to a supercharged one that fixes more than just typos.

The X-Half and the Human Behind the Drafts.

Let me give you an example. My very last article here on OSP — the one about the Fujifilm X-Half — went through seventeen (yes, 17!) revisions. I know, I can be a bit… extra (ChatGPT helped me find the right word here — I almost wrote “autistic,” but that’s not what I meant. It’s more about me going totally overboard sometimes).

Anyway, the point is: I wrote the whole thing by hand first — mostly in Dutch, with some English words or phrases sprinkled in — because that’s how I think, and that’s how I want it to feel: my ideas, my style. After that, I ran it through AI to translate, and then I edited it again — and again — and again.

In case you missed it: seventeen revisions!
Until it finally read like the version I had in my head.

So, no, I don’t save that much time compared to before. Here, I’ll even show you a screenshot of an article I wrote back in 2021, before I ever touched ChatGPT — that one had 25 revisions. So yeah, a bit of gain, but not a game-changer.

But here’s the real difference: my own words and thoughts are being transformed better now. All those idioms and sayings I know in Dutch — if you translate them literally, they just don’t land. And sometimes you’re searching for that one word to express something…

Well, when I write in a mix of Dutch and English, I can just let it flow.
Then I see what the AI makes of it — and I tweak it back so it still feels like me.

I saw a warning today under an article that said, “Warning — truly human-written content. Please forgive any mistakes.” Seriously? Since when do human mistakes need a warning label? It’s like putting a sign on a banana: “Warning — may contain potassium.”

We live in a world where people get offended by just about everything — “You can’t say that!” “Respect my privacy!” “Don’t hurt my feelings!” …….”I’am different !” – well, me too, we all are ! Writing used to be about expressing yourself, making mistakes, and sometimes ruffling a few feathers. Now it feels like tiptoeing through a field full of landmines wearing clown shoes.

So is AI the bad guy here? Nope. It’s just the new helper in town, making sure your message sounds clear — with fewer spelling errors and no weird food references. Everyone uses the tools they have: Shakespeare didn’t have a tablet, just a feather pen and a lot of ink. Today, AI can be our fancy pen.

One more thing — this very article you’re reading was written with just six revisions.
I think the AI really got me on this one 🙂

This article was written by Marc R.
While I primarily speak Dutch and have some knowledge of English and a little French, ChatGPT helps ensure my writing is grammatically correct. I often mix Dutch and English in my drafts, and ChatGPT steps in to translate and correct.