This is not a piece about banal AI-written investment content, it is an exploration of why a reliance on AI kills the benefits of writing for both reader and author.

When I realise that I am reading a piece of writing that was AI-generated my heart sinks a little. In part this is because of the frustrating style it adopts with its incessant use of antithetical parallelism – “this is not just X, it is Y”. Yet there is something more important than this tedious rhetorical-tic: AI investment content strips all of the value and purpose out of the act of writing and reading.

Most investment writing (apart from generic, turn the handle market commentaries) should be thought of as a process which benefits both reader and author. The reader gets to understand the voice and views of the author, while the author can write as a way of shaping and developing their own thought processes.

If investment writing is just the result of a few prompts, it lacks any original thought and fails to represent the author’s voice. Rather it is simply the output of a predictive system that has no stake in what it generates.

For the author, high quality writing should never be merely an exercise in creating some form of content. Of course, writers are trying to communicate something, but the path to arriving at that communication is as important as the message itself. The process of writing involves exploration, reflection and refinement – all of this is lost if we simply rely on AI.

This loss is most pernicious for those with less experience or without true domain expertise. The process of writing to communicate is also an invaluable form of learning. When the answer is simply to ask an AI model to assume this responsibility for us, not only do we sacrifice the opportunity for slow, deliberative learning, but we also do not have the means or knowledge to question whatever answer AI provides. Writing is about so much more than the output.

Even if we do think only in terms of the end product, the loss from AI-reliance is pronounced. Readers know nothing about the person that (they think) might have written something. They have no sense of their voice, nor can they even provide feedback or challenge to the author, because it is not the author’s work.

Successful investment writing comes largely from a relationship of trust between reader and author that builds over time. As readers, we pay attention to the words and opinions of someone we might have followed for years, and we make judgements about the quality of views offered based on that trust. In a world where AI investment writing dominates, there is no trust, just an absence of it.

While the process of writing informs and enlightens both reader and author, writing can also act as a useful signal of expertise, effort and care. The friction that exists because good investment writing is difficult and complex evaporates when AI can churn out passable flannel in a few seconds.

It is possible to argue that the genuine, higher quality writing will shine through amidst the barrage of generic babble, but it will become increasingly difficult to find amongst the maelstrom of AI generated pieces.

AI writing will also inevitably get better and seem more authentic, so it will become harder to spot than it is now. This will not be a positive development.  As the quality of AI writing improves, the loss from our increasing reliance on it will become more pronounced. As more people turn to it, more of us will lose the benefits that stem from authentic, human writing.

There are, of course, aspects of the process of writing where AI can be incredibly helpful such as researching, fact checking (sometimes) and proof reading. It is also useful in producing the generic work that I imagine no human enjoys having to create, but in writing, and in general, we really need to start being very clear about what AI is good for and where its presence comes with a significant cost.

Investment writing should have a clear purpose and one that is more than simply attempting to communicate a certain message as quickly as possible. For many authors it will be a way of thinking through messy, subjective and complicated problems. While readers want to hear the trusted voice of a writer and understand what they are thinking and why.

All of the meaningful elements of investment writing are human, and most of these have very little to do with the simple production of content. As we increasingly rely on AI, we risk losing the manifold benefits that come from the process of writing and reading.

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My first book has been published. The Intelligent Fund Investor explores the beliefs and behaviours that lead investors astray, and shows how we can make better decisions. You can get a copy here (UK) or here (US).

All opinions are my own, not that of my employer or anybody else. I am often wrong, and my future self will disagree with my present self at some point. Not investment advice.