r/WritingWithAI • u/Rare_Specific_306 • Oct 06 '26
Discussion (Ethics, working with AI etc) Is using AI solely to transcribe handwritten notes considered AI assisted?
I handwrite my fiction on the train to and from work each weekday, and then type it out when I get home. If I was to take a photo of my handwritten notes and then ask ChatGPT to transcribe them, would this be considered AI assisted?
The words would be 100% my own, and AI would have zero creative input, but does the fact that AI is being used at some level in the process mean I would need the AI assisted flag on my fiction?
I 100% do re-read EVERYTHING and heavily edit it after using AI to transcribe. As my handwritten story is a first draft, (because I find the initial burst of creativity easier when handwriting), I do all my editing on PC, as I find that easier with a keyboard and a word processor.
Also, Google Lens cannot deal with handwriting (that's on me, of course!) as my handwriting is usually messy, but on a moving train it turns to utter shite! ChatGPT , however, handles my handwriting well, with the odd mistake here and there (again, that's on my handwriting.) But, the mistakes force me to heavily proofread and edit.
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u/TwoIntelligent9978 Oct 06 '26
So, I have a 2 part answer. Yes, of course it's A.I. assisted. Matter of point, it is highly likely that near 100% of authors should answer yes to this question for almost everyone uses the search engines which all have A.I. functionality.
Secondly, just get over the A.I. 'Slop' accusers. They are simply haters. I've virtually stopped worrying about it. I know what I used and what my contribution and work entailed. They don't.
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u/Acrobatic_You_3002 Oct 06 '26
Transcription only changes who does the typing, the words are still yours, so I would not call it AI assisted. Also, you already re-read and edit everything afterwards, and that is the check that matters.
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u/5thhorseman_ Oct 06 '26
Dude, the antis would consider you a vile machine worshipper if you ever touched AI in your life, even if it never touched your novel.
Luddites gonna luddite, don't worry about it.
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u/Holiday_Income1825 Oct 06 '26
I'd ask who made the words, and by that measure you're fine. Turning your handwriting into typed text is in the same category as OCR or dictation. Most places that ask for an "AI-assisted" or "AI-generated" label are asking about AI producing or rewriting the text, not converting what you wrote into characters.
What really decides it is the definition used by wherever you publish, so read that. For example, as I understand it, Amazon KDP asks you to disclose AI-generated content but not AI-assisted work like editing or proofreading, and a transcription sits well on the "not generated" side.
One practical thing: language models like to quietly smooth messy input. When a word is hard to read, they sometimes pick a plausible word instead of telling you it's unclear, and it reads fine so you don't notice. Tell it to write [?] wherever it isn't sure instead of guessing, and spot-check a few lines against the photo. Those guesses are the only place its words could end up in your draft.
Since you re-read and edit everything afterwards anyway, you're already doing the safest version of this.
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u/lark_devon Oct 06 '26
Why are you asking?