Using templates and AI-generated writing may make the creative process faster, but they can also prevent people from developing a distinctive voice and producing work that stands out.
Lulu argues that templates come with a hidden cost: they encourage people to settle for an established formula rather than exploring what they could create on their own.
“When you use a template, you are giving up on the possibility that you could be better.”
The same principle, she says, applies to AI writing. While AI can be a powerful tool and can help with brainstorming, research, editing and refinement, relying on it to produce the entire piece can make the final result resemble everyone else’s.
AI Can Improve Your Work, But It Can Also Make It Average
Lulu emphasizes that AI itself is not the problem. She uses AI regularly and recognizes its value as a productivity and creative tool.
The risk appears when people stop using AI as an assistant and start using it as a replacement for their own thinking and writing.
If thousands of people use the same AI systems to generate similar content, the output can naturally converge toward the same patterns, structures and language.
“If you rely on AI to write for you, you’re putting yourself at the level of anyone else in the population who wants to pay fractions of a cent for a token to get similar output from the same shared brain.”
That creates an important distinction between using AI to improve your thinking and using AI instead of thinking.
The Real Advantage Is Being Better Than Average
Lulu’s broader argument is about the value of developing individual capability.
If someone struggles significantly with writing, using AI may immediately improve their output. In that situation, average AI-generated writing could be better than what they would produce alone.
But for someone who believes they can become a better-than-average writer, thinker or creator, outsourcing the entire process can have the opposite effect.
“If you are far below average, you should do that, because average is better than you. But if you believe you can be even a little bit better than average, you would be robbing yourself.”
The point isn’t to reject AI or templates altogether.
It’s to avoid allowing convenience to replace the development of your own skills.
AI can help you produce faster. Templates can help you start faster. But neither should prevent you from becoming better.
The strongest creators may ultimately be those who use AI to accelerate their abilities without allowing it to flatten their individuality.
