Following on the heels of our AI and the Writing Profession survey (more on that below), which focuses on how working writers use and view AI, the blogging platform Medium recently set out to gather some complementary hard data on how AI is shifting writers’ workflows regardless of whether they’re professionals or more casual creators. Medium released its report last month and as it happens, it learned that growing numbers of writers are embracing/succumbing to this disruptive technology — but more often than not, they’re using it for their private work versus professional revenue-generating writing. As you might expect, trust (or mistrust) issues endure even as folks increasingly incorporate AI into their daily practice.
Medium’s findings underscore some intriguing trends: AI is flourishing, as the survey found it to be the only writing tool that saw an increase, jumping from 2025’s 19 percent usage to 24 percent. Medium cites newsletters, note taking, and word processing functions as the primary drivers of this increase in uptake. Grammar and tonal review, assessment for clarity, and first draft generation lead the pack when it comes to workflow integration. Considering the benefits, respondents noted how it makes them bolder in their experimentation, that it cuts their production time for creating new work, and improves the overall quality of their drafts.
Digging more deeply into the creative aspect, Medium posits that nattering self-doubt is also creeping into respondents’ heads:
“AI is having an impact at the creative level for writers: 24% say AI has changed their style or voice, 19% say it has increased pressure to produce more, and 14% say it has reduced confidence in their own ideas or voice. These concerns sit alongside other AI concerns reflected in other surveys out there. In their September 2025 survey of writing professionals, Gotham Ghostwriters and Josh Bernoff found that 91% of professional writers were worried about hallucinations, and 78% worry that AI is making writing bland and boring.”
Still, it’s worth noting the overall optimism that human writing has real staying power in the face of advancing tech. As Medium points out, “On our end, we know that writers still love writing — whether they’re reaching millions of readers or keeping a private daily writing practice. This is the quiet revival: while the world changes fast, the love and value of writing isn’t going anywhere.”
