How The Obsidian Library Uses Artificial Intelligence in our Creative Process

The Obsidian Library uses artificial intelligence as an assistive research and writing tool to help bring original ideas to life. AI is not used to replace human thought, creativity, or authorship—but to enhance the speed, clarity, and quality of how those ideas are expressed and shared.

Every piece published by The Obsidian Library, whether a book review, thought essay, or story collaboration, is based on close reading, personal reflection, and critical analysis by its founder. The ideas are human. The opinions are human. The structure, perspective, and final judgments are human. AI plays a collaborative role in helping synthesize information, organize arguments, and polish drafts for readability, but never in place of original thinking.

In an age where AI is reshaping how we live, work, and create, The Obsidian Library embraces the opportunity to use this technology with transparency, agency, and intention. Inspired by the ethical principles outlined in Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick, this site views AI as a creative partner, not an author, not an oracle. The founder chooses what to include, what to discard, and how to present it. AI simply helps make that process more efficient and accessible, particularly when dealing with complex material or time constraints.

Why use AI at all? Because it enables The Obsidian Library to deliver more thoughtful content to our readers faster. It allows deeper dives into books, better synthesis of historical and cultural context, and more consistent communication with a growing community of curious, ambitious readers. In short, it supports the site’s mission: to help people fall in love with reading again.

Transparency is key. That’s why this policy exists—and why The Obsidian Library is committed to evolving it as the technology changes. AI may help shape sentence structure, summarize dense information, or surface key patterns. But every book reviewed on this site has been read by a human. Every idea has been interrogated by one. And every sentence is filtered through a human mind—one trained to question assumptions, weigh nuance, and tell a story that matters.

For those curious about how this works in practice, a forthcoming thought piece in The Annex will explore the philosophy behind these choices in more depth: how AI intersects with authorship, what it means to maintain integrity in a synthetic era, and how human storytelling can thrive even as the tools evolve.

Until then, readers can trust this:

Every idea shared at The Obsidian Library is driven by a real person’s voice.

AI helps build the structure, but the soul comes from elsewhere.

And that soul is always, unapologetically, human.