Ask HN: Most (Writing) Tools Are AI-Enabled, Not AI-First. What's Still Missing? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Most (Writing) Tools Are AI-Enabled, Not AI-First. What's Still Missing?

3 pointsDanao2 comments

I feel like most AI writing tools are still just that—tools with AI bolted on. They’re not really built around how people actually write. There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors, and not enough stuff that fits the real context and constraints of writing.

I’m trying to figure out where the real gaps are, so builders (myself included) can aim at problems that matter, not just whatever’s hyped this week.

So I’d love to hear from folks who write a lot (docs, specs, marketing copy, essays, whatever) and already use AI tools, (ChatGPT, Claude, built-in stuff like Notion’s AI etc.).

Where does it break your flow? What keeps you from using it more? If you could wipe your current setup and build an AI-first editor from scratch, what would have to be in it?

Looking for edge cases, pain points, weird workflows, hacks you’ve come up with, that one feature you keep wishing existed, anything that’s real and grounded.

I dunno if that's the feedback you wanted but...

Just today i had to write an email about a certain thing, involving multiple people, multiple topics and leading to a conclusion what we could do / offer to do.

I wrote my email in a very very very very informal way (like "...then you and those other people should come together to talk about...) and asked ChatGPT to make it nicer and more formal. Then i reviewed the text ChatGPT did and told ChatGPT more about the topic at hand, so it can refine that EMail with that additional knowledge about said situation.

This approach works (usually) pretty well, because if you ask ChatGPT to write an EMail about some situation in the first place (without giving it an Text to work with), it will create a very boilerplate sounding text.

Hope that helps already!

The issue is more that writing is thinking. You can't just have AI do it.

My process is: 1) write bullet points completely uncensored, 2) write the first draft from the bullet points, 3) delete everything and write the second draft from memory or go over the first draft and remove anything that doesn't make sense, but I often keep the structure. Editing often breaks the flow of thought, so I prefer rewriting.

I'm thinking AI could actually take over (3), or even (2). It can't possibly do (1).

This is a little unnatural though. It's like making a flowchart before writing the code. So that's really the main barrier to adoption. But if I were doing something where it mattered, like a blog, or copywriting, I would use this.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com