How these are written

Every post here has a small badge at the top saying how AI was involved: written by hand, dictated and transcribed, AI-assisted, or written by AI. It's one line of frontmatter on each post, so it can't drift from the truth.

Most of what I publish is AI-assisted, and I don't want that word to be vague. Here's what it actually means for me.

I keep a voice profile. It's a plain document of how I write: the words I use and the ones I won't, no em-dashes, a single word in CAPS when something needs the weight, short sentences where they earn it and longer ones where they don't, a real analogy when it helps and none when it doesn't. I didn't invent it. I read my own posts back and wrote down what was already there.

For an assisted post, the AI drafts to that profile and then I edit every line. Not "read it and hit publish." I cut the parts that sound like a robot, fix the rhythm, kill any word I'd never say out loud, and rewrite anything that isn't true to what actually happened. If a sentence makes it in, it's because I'd have written it.

The badge tells you how far that went. Written by hand means I typed every word myself. AI-assisted means I directed the piece and edited it, but AI helped draft. I'd rather just tell you than have you wonder.

The robot helps. I still own every line.