Writing on paper, on the screen and with AI. Transformations of practices, thinking echologies

Abstract

This article examines the transformations of academic writing across three technological environments: paper-based writing, digital screen writing, and AI-assisted writing. Starting from the theory of the brainframe developed by Derrick de Kerckhove and drawing on media theory and writing studies, the paper argues that writing technologies do not simply support communication but actively shape cognitive organization and forms of thought. Paper-based writing is associated with an “architectural” brainframe characterized by a priori organization, sequential development, and bidimensional textuality. Digital writing, enabled by screen-based and hypertextual environments, introduces a “fluid” brainframe grounded in reversibility, recomposability, and multidimensional textual structures. Generative AI further transforms these dynamics by introducing a “negotiated and augmented” mode of writing, based on emergent organization, dialogical iteration, and latent tridimensionality. In this context, writing becomes less a process of linear inscription and more collaborative and exploratory interaction between human and machine. The article finally discusses the implications of AI-assisted writing for academic authorship, critical thinking, and intellectual responsibility, suggesting that the value of academic work increasingly resides not in the mechanical production of text, but in conceptualization, validation, and reflective intelligence.