Using Artificial Intelligence to Write
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The introduction of ChatGPT 3.5 in November 2022 has ushered in a writing revolution [1]. Since that release, many respected engineers and scientists have begun experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) both to improve specific aspects of their writing and to streamline the writing process [2]. As depicted in the analogy of Figure 1, AI is not only writing a significant slice of current documents in engineering and science but also helping write other documents that would have been too large or difficult to take on with a traditional approach.
Figure 1. Analogy for the share of technical writing that AI has taken as well as for other documents that AI is making it possible to write.
Despite some successes, writing done with artificial intelligence has distinct weaknesses. As indicated on the page of telltale signs of AI writing, the biggest weakness for engineers and scientists is a lack of technical precision. Writing generated by AI can be "erroneous, misleading, or entirely irrelevant" [3]. In general, the more technical precision that is needed in a document, the less effective that AI is at drafting the document.
Also, because writing with AI threatens deeply established practices, this innovation has been met with significant resistance [4]. The theory for the diffusion of innovation helps explain this resistance [5]. As shown in Figure 2, some engineers and scientists have already become early adopters. This group has tried using AI to help write documents and found writing situations in which the innovation is effective. On the other end of the curve, another group (referred to as laggards in the theory) not only have publicly refused to try the innovation but are blocking its use in their institutions, departments, or courses. Many others are waiting, either watching for what early adopters will do (early majority) or simply following what most people do (late majority).
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Figure 2. Order of adopters for an innovation [5] such as using AI to assist in writing. When faced with whether to adopt an innovation, people will take different stances.
For many engineers and scientists, an important question is deciding when using AI to help write documents is appropriate. This answer is not simple. Much depends on the content, audience, purpose, and occasion of the document. For instance, in many cases, using AI as an assistant is fine for the research and revision stages of the writing process, shown in Figure 3, but not for the drafting stage. One instance in which AI is not appropriate for drafting occurs when you are still learning about the content. In such a case, using AI to draft cheats authors out of the insights that naturally would arise when they draft a document.
Figure 3. Three important stages of the writing process: researching, drafting, and revising.
This website presents insights about writing with AI in engineering and science. One webpage highlights strong examples of AI writing. Seeing such examples of others is helpful in determining when you might use AI in your own work. Another webpage discusses stylistic and grammatical signs for when a document is written with AI. Knowing the style of AI writing is valuable for multiple reasons, one being to craft writing prompts for AI. Two forthcoming pages are using AI to critique technical documents (including student assignments) and a teaching policy for using AI in technical courses.
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Photo by pxibay.com (CC0 1.0)
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Photo by PickPic
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Using AI to Provide Feedback
on Technical Writing (Forthcoming) 
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Teaching Policy for AI Writing by Students
(Forthcoming)
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References
- Berber Jin and Belle Lin, “OpenAI Unveils GPT-5, Its Latest and Most Powerful Model, After Two-Year Wait,” Wall Street Journal (7 August 2025), p. A-1.
- Catherine Berdanier and Michael Alley, "We still need to teach engineers to write in the era of ChatGPT," Journal of Engineering Education, vol 112, issue 3 (July 2023), pp. 583-586.
- Qinjin Jia, Jialin Cui, Haoze Du, Parvez Rashid, Ruijie Xi, Ruochi Li, Edward Gehringer, “LLM-generated Feedback in Real Classes and Beyond: Perspectives from Students and Instructors,” Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Educational Data Mining, (Atlanta, Georgia: International Educational Data Mining Society, July 2024), pages 862–867.
- Jessica Grose, "These College Professors Will Not Bow Down to AI," opinion, The New York Times (6 August 2025).
- Everett M. Rogers, The Diffusion of Innovation, 5th edition (Free Press, 16 August 2003).
*AI was not used to research, draft, or revise this webpage.