Behind the Article: It’s Never Too Late to Find Your Voice
Companion article
When I started writing It’s Never Too Late to Find Your Voice, I thought I was writing about AI.
I wasn’t.
The original idea came from YouTube’s decision to reduce the monetisation of repetitive, low-value AI-generated content. Like many people, my first reaction was to ask whether AI was changing creativity.
But as I started writing, something interesting happened.
The technology slowly disappeared from the centre of the article.
What emerged instead was a much more personal question.
Why had I waited until retirement to share my thoughts?
The answer surprised me.
It wasn’t because I had nothing to say.
It was because I didn’t believe anyone would be interested in hearing it.
For years, I’d assumed that writers were other people. Journalists. Authors. Academics.
Not someone who had spent a career solving technical problems.
The turning point wasn’t discovering AI.
It was discovering that AI could help me express ideas that had been sitting quietly in my head for years.
During the editing process, my Editorial Board kept challenging me.
Austin Kleon asked me to stop explaining and start telling my story.
Seth Godin reminded me that the article wasn’t really about AI—it was about the moment everything changed.
Oliver Burkeman encouraged me to admit uncertainty instead of pretending to have the answers.
George Saunders kept bringing me back to the emotional heart of the piece.
Then one memory surfaced.
The first time I pressed Publish, I almost didn’t.
The question running through my mind was painfully simple:
“Who would be interested in the opinion of an old man?”
That question became the heart of the article.
Not because I found an answer.
But because I realised I wasn’t the only person asking it.
Perhaps that’s what writing is really about.
Not proving that you’re right.
But asking a question that makes someone else feel a little less alone.
Thinking Beyond the Headlines
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Research this topic from multiple perspectives.
The original idea came from YouTube’s decision to reduce the monetisation of repetitive, low-value AI-generated content
Please help me understand:
What happened?
Why is it important?
What are the main arguments for and against?
What facts are well established?
What is still uncertain or debated?
What viewpoints are missing from most discussions?
What historical context would help me understand this better?
What are three thoughtful questions I should ask next?
Don’t tell me what to think. Help me understand the topic well enough to form my own opinion.
You could ask individual questions; the questions in block
always use
Don’t tell me what to think. Help me understand the topic well enough to form my own opinion. At the end, after the question or questions,
example: What happened? Don’t tell me what to think. Help me understand the topic well enough to form my own opinion.