“Why do we even need to learn to write if AI can do it for us?” It’s a question that I have encountered from students, colleagues, from scholars, and even strangers across social media. It’s this question contrasted with conversations with industry writing professionals that shows generative AI can’t write well. The writing may look polished, but lacks the important technical details that make it rhetorically effective for a particular audience and purpose. This article argues writing with AI requires expertise to judge genre expectations, contextual demands, and the rhetorical value of AI output. AI does not replace rhetorical judgment;…
Author: Heather Listhartke
Heather Listhartke
Dr. Heather Listhartke is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Individualized Studies Program at an R3 comprehensive university. Her research focuses on accessibility in writing classrooms and environments, community building in composing spaces, and writing pedagogy across the disciplines, with particular attention to the intersections of multimodal writing, rhetoric, and pedagogy. Dr. Listhartke is actively engaged in curriculum development and pedagogical research while managing innovative interdisciplinary programs. She lives in South Carolina with her spouse, 2 children, and sister.