Founders: AI Is A Better Writer Than You Are. Use It.

At a recent Lightship Bootcamp, I asked a room full of 13 ambitious founders a simple question: “Who here is using ChatGPT, Gemini, or any generative AI to help with their messaging?” Only about five raised their hands.

That moment stuck with me. Because if you’re not leveraging these tools, you’re not just resisting change. You’re holding your brand back.

I’m often asked if I’m afraid of AI replacing me or eliminating communications roles. My answer is always the same— absolutely not. The GPTs are my besties, actually lol. Anything that increases my productivity and saves me time so I can be sharper, faster, and more strategic is working for me, not against me.

Here’s the key, tools like ChatGPT are not replacements for your voice, your vision, or your expertise. They are accelerators. They’re like educated interns—brilliant for first drafts, research, idea generation, and breaking through creative blocks. But just like interns, they need guidance, refinement, and oversight. Your job is to shape and elevate what they give you, not just copy-paste it.

And trust me, decision makers can tell the difference. Investors know when they’re reading the redundant result of a lazy prompt. They know when a founder hasn’t taken the time to refine, edit, and make the messaging their own. They also know when they’re looking at a thoughtful, polished narrative that started with smart AI use and ended with human judgment.

The founders who embrace these tools are  saving time and scaling their voices. They’re testing ideas faster and refining messaging with more agility. And in a market where speed and clarity win, that makes all the difference.

So here’s my call to action— shake the fear. Stop resisting technology. Start experimenting. Use AI to get that messy first draft out of your head and into the world. Then sharpen it, own it, and make it worthy of your brand.

Because the future of entrepreneurship isn’t founders vs. technology. It’s founders who know how to make technology work for them.

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Vanessa Misoon

Chief Communications Strategist, Lightship Foundation | Black Tech Week