Author here: I dictated this article into my phone and got a model to transcribe and clean up / reword.

I'd argue that counts as using AI as a tool for conveying my original thoughts.

Hey, thanks for taking the time to respond to feedback.

I believe there is a societal problem here, not specific to your particular actions. The expectation that communications should be “cleaned up” and “professional” in the first place comes from a bygone era. In the 2010s and earlier removing all typos, fixing wording, formatting the text and adding images were all signals that someone put extra care into sending their message. But in the present that just indicates use of AI.

You mentioned in another comment that your hand-drawn images would be “far worse”. Leaving aside whether any images were needed at all, a hand-drawn scribble in the 2010s might be unprofessional but in the present day there’s an AI generated image on every visible surface. A hand-drawn image, even a bad one, would actually make you stand out.

Even if you want to present the cleaned up version, you could also provide the original audio.