I don't want to read what you didn't write
- ID
- 27097
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 22 Sep 2026, 6:30 AM
- Fetched
- 24 Sep 2026, 4:22 AM
- Provider
- Hacker News
- Category
- dev-community
- Original URL
- https://blog.colinbreck.com/i-dont-want-to-read-what-you-didnt-write/
- Source URL
- https://hnrss.org/best
Summary
- Score
- 6.0
- Created
- 24 Sep 2026, 5:28 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersvibe_coderssaas_founders
What happened
Colin Breck argues that AI-generated professional writing—design docs, PR summaries, tickets, meeting notes, even personal messages—has become pervasive but unreadable, lacking context, perspective, and human voice. He distinguishes between using AI to help himself write better versus being forced to consume machine-generated summaries that skip the thinking and consensus-building that writing is supposed to drive.
Why it matters
If you're using AI to generate PR descriptions, design docs, or tickets, reviewers likely can't tell what they should care about or why the work matters—Breck specifically calls out machine-written PR summaries that list changes in detail but omit rationale, risk, and where input is needed. Consider writing the 'why' yourself and letting AI handle only the mechanical 'what changed.'
Discussion angle
Where's the line between AI-assisted writing and AI-displaced thinking—do your PR descriptions and design docs still carry the 'why' and the ask, or just the 'what'?