The Augmentalist - a collection of essays where I think out loud about humans, machines, and how we live and work between them.

First post: how tools begin as mirrors of our intent and end as expectations we no longer notice. augmentalist.org/2025/human-a...

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I’ve been meaning to write more publicly—something faster and freer than peer review.

After a great chat with @pedrolopes.org at @acmuist.bsky.social about what “augmentation” means to different people, from accessibility to enhancement, I finally did it!

augmentalist.org

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Thanks to Apple and OpenAI for their funding and support.

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StepWrite is one step toward making high quality writing possible anywhere ideas strike. We are excited to see how it can inspire new ways of creating on the move.

🌐 Website: www.cs.cmu.edu/~helalaou/pu...
📄 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2508.040...

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How It works:

• Plans the writing flow before you speak
• Asks adaptive follow-ups based on your answers
• Keeps tone, facts, and earlier context
• Lets you skip, revise, or finish anytime
• Supports progressive discovery — you don’t need to know exactly what to say before starting

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What we found:

With 25 participants, StepWrite:
• Cut editing effort by 7× vs dictation
• Lowered workload on all NASA TLX measures
• Matched ChatGPT in usability, fully hands free
• Produced longer, more coherent, richer drafts
• Improved idea organization and narrative flow

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Why it matters 📝

Writing while walking, cooking, or commuting is mentally taxing.

Dictation makes you plan and say everything at once, which often leads to messy drafts.

StepWrite splits the process into small, answerable steps so you can stay in flow anywhere.

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This work was done with my wonderful lab mates, @atieh.bsky.social and @yihaopeng.bsky.social , and my amazing advisor, @jeffreybigham.com.

🌐 Website: www.cs.cmu.edu/~helalaou/pu...
📄 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2508.040...

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Ever had to write an email, message, or note while walking, cooking, or commuting but found dictation tools fall short?

StepWrite augments your ability to turn fleeting thoughts into structured text, hands-free and eyes-free. Our paper will be presented at #UIST2025 and the code is open source.