By abusing AI, many young people forget how to write and talk like a machine

Bùi Đăng Minh•Sunday, July 12, 2026•28 min read

Viet Anh

(Dan Tri) - Using AI 24/7, many people admit that they gradually forget how to write, depend on this tool to communicate and worry that their personal language style gradually disappears.

There is no AI that cannot write

"I abused AI so much that my brain rotted."

That's how Phuong Linh (24 years old) describes herself after nearly two years of almost completely depending on AI tools in work and life.

From emails, reports, social network posts to messages and birthday wishes, Linh seeks ChatGPT's help.

"Sometimes, even if I just need to write a few sentences, I have to ask an AI how to write it. Gradually, I find that my sentences are getting more and more clumsy. Without AI, I almost wouldn't know where to start," Linh shared.

By abusing AI, many young people forget how to write and talk like a machine - 1 — From a support tool, AI gradually becomes Phuong Linh's default choice when it comes to writing and composing content in both work and life (Illustration: PV).

But what startled her more was that a friend once commented that her texting style "felt like it was written by AI" even though it was a message Linh composed entirely herself.

Not only Linh's case, Thanh Huyen (21 years old), a Content Marketing employee at a cosmetics company, said ChatGPT is always the first application she opens every time she starts her working day.

In addition to helping with ideas or content writing, Huyen also has a habit of asking AI how to express herself in communication situations at work.

Whenever she needs to respond to emails, communicate with colleagues, or reply to her superiors about an important issue, she often consults message suggestions from AI.

By abusing AI, many young people forget how to write and talk like a machine - 2 — Whenever she needs to compose content to communicate with colleagues and superiors, Huyen always seeks the support of AI (Illustration: CV).

"Many times, because I'm afraid that I won't express myself well or that I won't answer with enough meaning, I will ask the AI how to write. Using it so much that sometimes I'm afraid that my communication will become more and more like a machine and that without AI I won't be able to live," Huyen confided.

This concern also appeared in Quynh Hoa (24 years old), a customer service employee at a bank.

Previously, Hoa could compose her own content to respond to customers, now every time she encounters a support request or responds to a complaint, she often looks to AI for advice on how to write.

Hoa said: "Initially, I only used AI in complicated cases like when meeting difficult customers. But gradually, even for simple content, I got into the habit of asking AI first. That makes me worry that my writing ability is gradually disappearing."

The above stories all show that AI has become a "companion" for many young people in communication. However, along with convenience comes the worry of not knowing how to write like before and gradually learning the words of the machine.

Talking is becoming more and more like AI

Many studies have shown that AI is creating changes in the way people use language that we ourselves can hardly predict.

Typically, research by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (Germany) shows that when large language models are increasingly present in learning, work and life, people tend to unconsciously absorb their expressions.

After analyzing more than 740,000 hours of conversations from more than 360,000 presentations on YouTube and more than 700,000 podcasts, researchers found that many words that are frequently used by AI models such as "emphasis", "reinforcement", "breakthrough" are appearing more and more.

By abusing AI, many young people forget how to write and talk like a machine - 3 — Instead of AI learning to communicate like humans, we are gradually talking like AI (Illustration: ST).

In particular, the writing style of many people is also changing. Research by the University of Southern California (USA) analyzing scientific articles, local news and social network content shows that after ChatGPT launched, the diversity in writing styles decreased sharply.

Many people's sentences, expression structures, and word choices tend to become more similar.

Professor Morteza Dehghani, University of Southern California, said that as they become more and more familiar with the standardized language that AI creates, many people unconsciously see it as a model of good writing.

By abusing AI, many young people forget how to write and talk like a machine - 4 — Some people take for granted that AI's standardized language is professional and persuasive, so even if they don't use it often, they still adjust their writing to be more machine-like (Illustration: Getty).

Even people who don't often use AI are starting to adapt their writing to look more like language models, with the expectation that the writing will become professional.

Emily Bender, a linguist at the University of Washington, affirms that it is the process of struggling and thinking to find words and arrange sentences that helps people form their thinking and ability to express.

If every step is left to AI to write, users not only lose the opportunity to practice writing skills but also gradually lose their own voice, and writing style becomes mechanical.

A way out to prevent the language from being "flattened"

According to Dr. Nguyen Gia Hy, lecturer at Swinburne University (Australia), founder of SkillPixel, AI affecting the way people use words is an inevitable trend, similar to how the Internet once created slang, emoticons or new ways of communication.

The problem is not the use of AI, but who is controlling whom.

"If only copying AI-generated content verbatim, users can easily lose their personal impression, writing skills and unconsciously accept AI's feedback," the expert said.

By abusing AI, many young people forget how to write and talk like a machine - 5 — Dr. Nguyen Gia Hy commented that if only copying AI content verbatim, users can easily fall into the "dependency trap", reducing their ability to write independently (Photo: NVCC).

Dr. Hy affirmed that if you know how to criticize, edit and supplement your own experience, AI is still an effective support tool.

Users need to maintain a proactive position by asking questions, verifying information, and always rewriting results in their own voice instead of copying them exactly.

More importantly, AI cannot yet replace the elements that make up human identity such as personal experience, emotions, intuition or nuances of language.

By abusing AI, many young people forget how to write and talk like a machine - 6 — To practice writing ability and avoid dependence on machines, young people need to form the habit of reading books, newspapers, writing diaries and regularly expressing their thoughts in their own language (Illustration: CV).

Experts believe that AI will increasingly become a "virtual colleague" in many fields. Therefore, humans and machines will certainly have intersections in the way they communicate and use language.

However, effective cooperation can only exist when people still retain the ability to think independently.

Reading books, novels, communicating face-to-face, practicing writing each line in a diary, writing what you like and not considering AI as a substitute writer will help each person maintain their own language.

"AI can write almost anything, so what makes the difference between humans is writing with personal experience, perspective and voice," Dr. Nguyen Gia Hy stated.

Nguồn / Original source: Dân trí