I don't know where my work ends and the AI's begins. But I know who answers for it.

Last October I gave a presentation at a trade show that I had built in heavy collaboration with AI.

I thought it went well. I stood at the front, delivered every slide, and talked through the concepts in my own style. If answering for the work makes it yours, that presentation was very much my own.

Travelling home, something was nagging at me. I knew it was a good presentation and that I was a key contributor to the presentation. It didn't however feel 100% mine.

Months of daily AI work later, the feeling hasn't disappeared. The words and concepts are shared. The code I create is steered and checked but no longer authored. The finished work is better than I'd produce alone. Not faster. Better. So why the unease?

Here's where I've landed. I can't separate out what words are mine, but I can separate the ideas, concepts, iterations and decisions. AI offers directions. It can't decide which one I will push back on, where I will expand or what direction I will take next.

For me something genuinely new is going on. Every collaborator I've ever had was a person and we shared credit for the work. And they'd have said so if I claimed too much. This collaborator makes no claims at all, and I have to be comfortable to put my name alone behind the final work.

Which is exactly why it feels uncomfortable. The words aren't always fully my own but the work is something I stand by as mine.

So the test I hold myself to now:

• Do I understand it?
• Did I materially shape it, or just approve something convincing?
• Do I believe it?
• Will I answer for every line?

AI can contribute to the work. It cannot take responsibility for it. It can generate an apology, but it can't bear what an apology costs.

I don't need to have typed every word. But I do need to answer for every one.

And yes: this post went through exactly that process. I couldn't tell you which words were mine first. But I'll answer for every one of them.

Finlay Carmichael

Finlay Carmichael is the founder of The AI Lab, helping teams put AI to practical use through hands-on training and clear advice. He brings nearly 30 years' experience building and leading a Microsoft Business Solutions partner, working with hundreds of clients across the UK. Request a call