Use AI to Amplify
Human Creativity.
Not Outsource It
Former Head of Community for Writers at OpenAI. Taught writing at Yale. Teaching people and companies how to use AI to support the creative process â not outsource it.
Field Notes from a Creative Frontier
A Growing Community of Ethical AI Creators
When I was at OpenAI leading the writing community, my job was to seek out writers, educators, and students using AI thoughtfully and ethically in the creative process. What I found was a community of brilliant, curious people who see beyond the pro-AI / anti-AI hot-take binary.
These people hold human creativity sacred, yet they see AIâs potential. They know there are parts of the process we must preserve and defend. But they also understand that AI doesnât have to replace human creativity â that used thoughtfully, it can be a powerful tool to help us fulfill our creative potential.
What started as a handful of early adopters has now become a movement. Writers and educators across the country are learning how to use AI as a tool to support their creative work â without ever compromising their authenticity or outsourcing their creativity.
Voices from the Community
Sarah Rose Siskind
Comedian and Comedy Writer
âWhatâs amazing to me is I do not have writerâs block anymore â like truly. I think writerâs block is the feeling of solipsism, and it is the feeling of being totally alone. And I donât feel alone anymore because of this tool.â
Stew Fortier
Writer and Founder
âThe instinct is to say, âOh, this thing just writes for us.â But I can also prompt it to ask me questions. It can get me thinking by pulling ideas and insights out of me. What if instead of you becoming a prompt engineer, you see what it can prompt out of you?â
Ken Liu
Hugo Award Winner
âThe amazing thing about a writersâ room is the way the intersubjectivity of working with other people multiplies your own creativity tenfold. Having the AI push you to be more original, push you to explain your idea... It allows you to get out of that âIâm locked in my headâ space.â
Get weekly insights on how to use AI to amplify creativity â not replace it.
The Reframe
Donât ask AI to be creative. Ask AI to help you be creative.
Most people fall into one of two camps:
â Anti-AI
Avoid AI entirely out of fear
â Pro-AI
Let AI do the writing
The divide reveals itself in how people talk about AI:
âI always know when my students are using AI.â
âIt never gets my tone right.â
âItâs essentially just a plagiarism machine.â
These sentiments reveal a hidden assumption: that AI exists to do our work for us â that you either use it to generate writing or you donât use it at all.
Socratic AIâs approach: Use AI to think better, not to think for you.
What I Believe
Three Paradoxes of Socratic AI
#1
Honor Human Creativity
THE PRINCIPLE
Human creativity is sacred. Writing, storytelling, and art are acts of creation, and we must never outsource them to AI.
THE PARADOX
AI doesnât have to be a threat to creativity. Used thoughtfully, it can be a powerful tool to help us surface, develop, and express our own best ideas â without ever outsourcing the imagination, insight, and self-expression that make us human.
#2
Embrace the Struggle
THE PRINCIPLE
Creation is born of struggle. We must resist the urge to outsource the difficult parts to AI. Writing is hard â and that productive struggle is the whole point. The most powerful insights arise in those moments of discomfort and uncertainty when youâre staring down the blank page trying to figure out what comes next.
THE PARADOX
In those moments of doubt when youâre lost and stuck, AI can be a sounding board â a thinking partner to talk out your ideas, ask you clarifying questions, and help you find your way forward.
#3
Aim Higher
THE PRINCIPLE
The goal isnât to work less â itâs to reach higher and achieve more. Work as hard as ever and, amplified by AI, produce more and better work.
THE PARADOX
Creative work demands focus. So do automate the grunt work. Let AI handle the formatting, the citations, the drudgery â so you can devote yourself to the acts of human imagination AI canât replace.
These are not true paradoxes in the strict sense, since the statements donât actually contradict each other. Theyâre maybe more like dialectics â matched truths, each in tension with its counterpart.
Building a Movement of Ethical AI Creators
Meet Jay Dixit
Jay Dixit is a writer, Yale professor, and creator of the âSocratic AIâ framework. He spent 10,000+ hours honing his craft as a writer â and when AI arrived, he knew immediately how to use it: not to generate writing, but to help him think and write better.
"AI is my writer's room."
Writer First, AI Advocate Second
Award-winning journalist for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Psychology Today. Conducted George Carlinâs final interview and won The Moth storytelling competition. When ChatGPT launched, Jay immediately saw its potential â not to generate writing, but to support the creative process.
Building the OpenAI Writing Community
As Head of Community for Writers at OpenAI, Jay sought out and connected with writers, educators, and creators exploring ethical ways to use AI. It was in conversations with this community that he first defined the âSocratic AIâ approach.
The Movement Grows
What started as a small community has grown into a movement. Jay has shared the Socratic AI framework at Harvard, Wharton, Columbia, Yale, and through OpenAIâs flagship education resources â demonstrating that AI can amplify human creativity rather than replace it.
Today: Building the Movement
Through speaking, consulting, and the Socratic AI newsletter, Jay helps writers, educators, and institutions discover how to use AI thoughtfully â preserving what makes us human while harnessing technologyâs potential.
Why It Matters
Refusing to engage with AI wonât make it go away. It just means weâre ceding the conversation to people who treat AI as a content factory.
If you hold creativity sacrosanct but want to explore AIâs possibilities... If you wince at AI slop but refuse to surrender the fight to growth hackers... If you believe AI should support human creativity, not replace it... then youâre in the right place.
The best way to defend human authenticity is for us to be the ones who shape how people use AI â and guide others toward using it in ways that honor human creativity.
Choose Your Path
Find Your Starting Point
Whether you're a knowledge worker, leading an academic institution, or building AI literacy in your organization, there's a path for you.
For Knowledge Workers
Use AI to surface your best ideas, break through blocks, and push your work furtherâwithout outsourcing your thinking.
- Case studies from novelists, screenwriters & comedians
- Reverse interviewing & brainstorming prompts
- Access to the creator community
For Organizations
Build AI literacy across your company. Empower teams to use AI thoughtfully and effectively while maintaining quality and authenticity.
- Corporate training & workshops
- AI adoption frameworks & best practices
- Leadership keynotes & team enablement
For Institutions
Transform how your university or school approaches AI in education. Turn AI from a cheating concern into a learning opportunity.
- Faculty development & teaching strategies
- AI-resilient curriculum & assessment design
- Academic policy & implementation guidance
Signature Talks
Transformative sessions that help educators and institutions navigate the AI revolution with confidence and clarity.
Keynote reframing AI as a thinking amplifier â perfect for faculty summits, ed-tech conferences, and leadership retreats. Attendees leave with 3 prompts they can use immediately.
Hands-on workshop covering prompting strategies, disclosure forms, and the Socratic AI framework for responsible AI use. Faculty walk away with 5 assignment templates.
Turn memory checks into reasoning workouts and safeguard learning integrity with practical classroom strategies. Teachers know how to turn any essay prompt into a critical thinking challenge.
Real classroom strategies that turn AI into a springboard for critical thinking rather than a shortcut to answers.
Stories of writers and artists using AI to push imagination while keeping the creative process fundamentally human.
Practical frameworks for responsible AI use that aligns with transparency, fairness, and human values.
Custom strategies for organizations to harness AI thoughtfully â boosting productivity while fostering creativity.
Techniques like reverse interviewing and analogy generation to spark fresh ideas and innovative solutions.
Half-day introduction that demystifies AI and builds confident, skilled users across your organization.
I also design custom sessions tailored to your institution's specific needs and challenges.
Core Philosophy
The Socratic AI Approach
A human-centered methodology that reframes AI as a collaborative thinking partner â one that helps you surface your best ideas, articulate your thoughts with greater clarity, and make connections you might not otherwise have reached.
Academic Excellence
Trusted by elite institutions worldwide
Proven Impact
Measurable results that matter
Ethical Leadership
Human-centered by design
- Transparency first
- No shortcuts
- Human creativity
How My Socratic Questioning Approach Inspired ChatGPTâs New Study Mode
Spring 2024: Interviews with Writers and Educators
Inspired by my interviews with writing community members like Stew Fortier and Ken Liu, I begin exploring how to use AI to ask questions instead of just providing answers. The idea is simple: Flip the script and let AI ask the questions for a change.
Summer 2024: I Develop the Socratic Framework
I refine the âSocratic approachâ through conversations with novelists, screenwriters, and writing professors. My radical idea: Rather than ban AI, we should teach students how to use AI to challenge and deepen their thinking.
Fall 2024: I Publish My Student Guide
I document my approach in the Student Writing Guide I publish on OpenAI.com in fall 2024, providing examples and strategies for educators and students.
AI Should Amplify Thinking, Not Replace It
My philosophy â that âproductive struggleâ is important to learning and that students should âuse AI as a tool, not an answer machineâ â becomes central to OpenAIâs education messaging.
August 2025: Inspiring a New Product
My Socratic approach leads to the development of a new product: ChatGPT Study Mode. Designed to foster deeper understanding, Study Mode asks Socratic-style questions and offers step-by-step guidance instead of quick answers. (Just to be clear: A âtutoring modeâ â âHey ChatGPT, teach me about ionic bondsâ â was already in the works. The Socratic questioning was my contribution.)
Study Mode Launched
With the launch of Study Mode, âSocratic-style questionsâ become a core feature of ChatGPT â bringing my educational approach directly into the product that tens of millions of students now use every day.
Recognition
Media & Recognition
Featured in leading publications and trusted by elite institutions worldwide.
Featured In
The New York Times
Staff Writer
Psychology Today
Senior Editor
Rolling Stone
Contributor
Business Insider
Featured Expert
Speaking & Workshops
Harvard
Yale
Columbia
Wharton
CSU
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