More than Words: Re-thinking Writing in the Age of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming education, especially in the writing classrooms. Read on to learn more on how it's influencing instruction and impacting Multilingual Learners.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming education, especially in the writing classrooms. Read on to learn more on how it's influencing instruction and impacting Multilingual Learners.
If we treat the output of large language models as writing, as opposed to syntax generation, which is how I characterize it, then we're allowing the meaning of writing and the experience of writing to be degraded for humans. - John Warner
Artificial intelligence is transforming education, and nowhere more than in writing classrooms. In his new book, More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI, John Warner argues that the arrival of generative AI is not an existential threat — it’s an opportunity.
As Warner puts it: “Rather than seeing ChatGPT as a threat that will destroy things of value, we should be viewing it as an opportunity to reconsider exactly what we value and why we value those things. If anything, ChatGPT is the kick in the ass we needed to rethink our approaches.”
Warner has taught writing for years and is candid about where traditional instruction falls short: too much formulaic training in five-paragraph essays, too much mechanical feedback, not enough attention to writing as a human act.
At the heart of Warner’s argument are four deceptively simple claims that redefine what it means to write. These anchors move us away from formula and efficiency toward a vision of writing as a deeply human practice.
AI can generate text, but it cannot write. Writing is not just the production of sentences; it is the intentional act of shaping ideas, infused with memory, perspective, and judgment. For Warner, to write is to make meaning — something that requires human consciousness, context, and responsibility. This anchor insists we keep the distinction clear: while AI may mimic, only humans compose with purpose.
Writing is not merely the transcription of thought; it creates thought. As students wrestle with words, they discover new connections, refine arguments, and often surprise themselves with insights. Warner emphasizes that to short-circuit this process by letting AI produce a draft is to miss the most valuable part of writing: the way it shapes cognition and deepens understanding. Writing is a laboratory of the mind.
Good writing carries emotional weight. It conveys the writer’s relationship to their subject and audience. Warner reminds us that writing is an act of empathy as much as logic, requiring sensitivity to tone, rhythm, and resonance. Machines cannot feel and thus cannot infuse writing with genuine human presence. For students, learning to write is also learning to connect with readers through affect — a uniquely human art.
Like music or sport, writing improves through repetition, feedback, and sustained effort. There are no shortcuts to fluency. Warner argues that teaching writing as a one-off performance (e.g., a five-paragraph essay graded for correctness) misses the point. The value lies in repeated practice — drafting, revising, reflecting — through which students gain confidence and develop their voice. This framing repositions writing as a lifelong practice rather than a hoop to jump through. Together, these anchors ground Warner’s call to resist, renew, and explore.
Warner offers a three-part framework for responding to AI’s arrival:
-Resist: Don’t anthropomorphize AI. Don’t cede human domains like meaning-making to machines. Don’t assume economic efficiency is the highest goal. Writing is meant to be read by humans.
-Renew: Reimagine writing instruction. Value process over product. Give authentic feedback. Honor individuality and cultivate voice. Ensure students see the benefits of their work in the short and long term.
-Explore: Experiment thoughtfully with AI where it can enhance learning. But keep the maxim “first, do no harm.” Teachers should seek trusted guides, pilot AI use, and preserve the elements of writing that remain uniquely human.
Warner models this in his classroom. He spends an entire class session with students on a single paragraph of David Foster Wallace’s A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.
Together, they read it aloud multiple times, attend to cadence, repetition, and word choice. Warner draws students into a close reading of Wallace’s use of the word flesh — sparking discussion about tone, imagery, and meaning.
This exercise trains students to read like writers — to see language as a set of intentional choices. It builds not only analytical skills but also the confidence that they, too, can notice, infer, and discover. Warner calls this the “decoder ring for culture” — a way to see the world more deeply through writing.
Generative AI can make writing faster, but Warner warns against outsourcing the very parts of writing that make it meaningful. Efficiency is useful for routine tasks, but when applied to discovery, reflection, and voice, it becomes a hindrance.
He recalls how he once used macros to give students generic feedback. It was efficient, but dehumanizing. Eventually, he abandoned the practice and shifted to individual conversations, treating each student as a thinker with unique ideas.
His maxim: students are creatures, not machines; individuals are not averages; a class is not the sum of averages.
-Instruction: Scaffold process writing, embed authentic rhetorical contexts, and give students opportunities to fail, revise, and discover. Close reading and writerly noticing, as in Warner’s Wallace exercise, can become core practices.
-Assessment: Evaluate not just the polished product but also the process — drafts, reflections, revisions, choices. Shift rubrics from surface correctness to intentionality, risk, and growth.
-Feedback: Make it human. Move beyond batch comments to conversations that honor students’ ideas and individuality.
Warner’s framework is particularly vital for multilingual learners. Too often, they are penalized for grammatical imperfections while their ideas and voices are overlooked.
-Process-based instruction gives them time and space to express, revise, and clarify.
-Close reading and writerly noticing strengthen both language and critical thinking.
-Authentic writing tasks allow multilingual students to draw on their identities, cultures, and languages as assets.
-Transparent AI guidance helps them use tools responsibly — for scaffolding, not substitution.
By resisting formulaic products and renewing human-centered writing, educators create more equitable opportunities for multilingual learners to flourish.
Warner urges us not to pivot toward or away from AI, but to orient ourselves toward human flourishing. AI will never know what it feels like to choose the right word, to wrestle with a sentence until it sings, or to discover new knowledge through writing. That remains the work of human beings.
Our challenge as educators is to preserve and expand those human values — for every student, in every classroom, in every language.
Skimming Isn’t Reading: Reclaiming the Power of Deep Reading in a Digital Age
More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI by John Warner (Basic Books, 2025)
For more on AI, read The AI Advantage: Designing with Purpose for Multilingual Learners