# The best red pen, or a blunter knife?

2026-06-29 · Joakim Jardenberg. English translation by AI. Original wording preserved. Titles and image descriptions added by AI.

This post accompanied a video. Its text and original still are preserved here; watch the video on LinkedIn.

#ensakidag 498: AI as the best red pen of all time. (Or just an increasingly blunt knife?)

Ethan Mollick took one of his very first research papers, almost exactly 20 years old, and ran it through GPT-5.5 Pro. Back came new data, razor-sharp tables showing what had happened since, and an analysis so sharp that someone in the thread called it the best red pen they’d ever seen.

That set my thoughts racing. Partly the concern in the comments: if we only let AI build on what already exists, the knife grows longer but blunter. And partly an idea I can’t let go of: what if we ran all of humanity’s accumulated knowledge through the models again, every time they took a substantial step forward? And what if you did it with your own life’s work, everything you’ve written and thought, and asked for honest feedback, or simply let it live on, continually updated?

Can it go wrong? Of course. But as always, it comes down to how we lead the work. Try it yourself and see.

And speaking of trying things yourself, on Wednesday you’ll see what I came up with after reading that tweet...

As always. Tell me what you think.

CC-BY 4.0 · and inspired by @emollick

![A still from Joakim’s #ensakidag video about AI feedback and revisiting older work.](https://jardenberg.com/images/notes/backfill/7477356634969866240-1.jpg)

Image description · AI: A still from Joakim’s #ensakidag video about AI feedback and revisiting older work. This is a still; the original video remains on LinkedIn.

[Original LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7477356634969866240/)

## Original wording

#ensakidag 498 – om AI som tidernas bästa rödpenna. (Eller bara en allt slöare kniv?)

Ethan Mollick tog en av sina allra första forskningsartiklar, nästan exakt 20 år gammal, och körde den genom GPT-5.5 Pro. Tillbaka kom nya data, knivskarpa tabeller över vad som hänt sedan dess, och en analys så vass att någon i tråden kallade den den bästa rödpenna de någonsin sett.

Det satte fart på tankarna. Dels oron i kommentarerna: om vi bara låter AI bygga vidare på det som redan finns, blir kniven längre men slöare. Dels en idé jag inte kan släppa: tänk om vi körde hela mänsklighetens samlade kunskap genom modellerna på nytt, varje gång de tar ett rejält kliv framåt? Och tänk om du gjorde det med ditt eget livsverk, allt du skrivit och tänkt, och bad om ärlig feedback eller bara lät det leva ständigt uppdaterat?

Kan det gå fel? Så klart. Men det handlar, som alltid, om hur vi leder arbetet. Testa själv, så får du se. 

Och på tal om att testa själv, på onsdag får du se vad jag hittade på efter att ha läst den där tweeten… 

Som alltid. Tyck tillbaka

CC-BY 4.0 · och inspirerat av @emollick

Source: https://jardenberg.com/notes/the-best-red-pen-or-a-blunter-knife

Joakim Jardenberg. English translation by AI. Original wording preserved. Titles and image descriptions added by AI.

Joakim Jardenberg’s own writing: CC BY 4.0. Credit Joakim Jardenberg and preserve AI + JJ / AI translation attribution. Third-party quotations, recommendations, photographs, screenshots, logos and media retain their own rights and are excluded.
Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/