{"slug": "stop-using-the-clanker-for-my-writing", "title": "Stop using the Clanker for my writing", "summary": "A blogger announced they will stop using AI to write their blog posts, citing an arXiv study (2412.07200) on AI-assisted essay writing that found revising AI-generated text improved writing quality while using it unchanged reduced it. The writer said they built a custom Electron app, requiring Vim support, VS Code shortcuts, deterministic grammar and spelling checks, and AI features for inline diagrams and code snippets, and will use AI only as a copilot for tasks such as generating diagram code examples. They plan to publish fewer blog posts that feel closer to their own writing.", "body_md": "TL;DR: I will stop using the Clanker to write my blogposts. I will use it as a copilot to help with annoying tasks, such as generating diagram code examples.\n\nOver the last few years, I used AI as the main tool to formulate most of my blogposts. While drafting this post, I noticed that I could get a clean paragraph, but it did not resemble my own writing until I rewrote it myself. That was the turning point. I experienced how easy it is to publish words without thinking through them. I expect writing the whole draft myself will help me find my own voice.\n\nThis workflow has many advantages but, as you can guess, comes with some trade-offs.\n\n| Pros | Cons | \n|---|---|\n| Helps turn ideas into published posts | Can make the writing sound less personal | \n| Reduces the effort of drafting and editing | Encourages relying on AI for the main argument | \n| Makes repetitive tasks easier | Can distance me from my own voice and thinking | \n\nSo in the end, if your goal is to become a better writer, AI can either help you or hold you back. A [study of AI-assisted essay writing](https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.07200) found that revising AI-generated text improved writing quality, while using it unchanged reduced it.\n\nIn short the found out that a better way to use Ai to generate text is\n\nThis is what I want to do to move Forward.\n\nThis is why I built my own Electron App where I will now write all my blog post moving forward.\n\nThe requirements that I had are\n\n- Needs to work with Vim (I use Vim btw)\n- Needs to have a smooth and minimalistic ui\n- Needs to have VS Code shortcuts\n- Gives me deterministic checks for Grammar and Spelling\n- Has AI features to add inline diagrams and code snippets\n- While I use my app, it should help me become a better writer\n- and and and\n\n## Malleable Software\n\nThe reason everyone can now write custom software is AI. For most apps, including personal productivity apps, you do not need to buy anything. You can say, “I like app X; please clone that for me.” Then add all the custom features you need.\n\nThis is what I did this is the first Blog Post that I have written in my custom app. Why I wrote this blog post I found many features or bug fixes that i need to fix\n\nThis is what the app looks like. Going forward, I will publish fewer blog posts, but they will feel closer to my own writing.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stop-using-the-clanker-for-my-writing", "canonical_source": "https://alexop.dev/posts/stop-using-the-clanker-for-my-writing/", "published_at": "2026-09-05 06:56:10+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-21 03:22:39.603479+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-tools", "generative-ai", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Electron", "Vim", "VS Code", "arXiv"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stop-using-the-clanker-for-my-writing", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stop-using-the-clanker-for-my-writing.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stop-using-the-clanker-for-my-writing.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stop-using-the-clanker-for-my-writing.jsonld"}}