Michael Leggs
Founder of Smartleby
Michael is the founder of Smartleby, an AI-powered writing and revision platform, and a college professor with more than 20 years of experience teaching writing, rhetoric, research, and critical thinking.
He helps educators, students, and professionals harness artificial intelligence responsibly to enhance learning, communication, and academic success. Combining the perspectives of educator, entrepreneur, and author, he helps audiences understand how to thrive in a world where human creativity and artificial intelligence increasingly intersect.
Michael is also the author of Re-Visioning Writing, a college composition textbook forthcoming from Kendall Hunt Publishing in Spring 2027.
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Oct. 25, 2026
AI Should Improve Your Thinking, Not Replace It With Michael Leggs
AI can produce a polished paragraph in seconds, but that doesn’t mean students are learning to write. Jackie sat down with Michael Leggs, a college professor and the founder of Smartleby, to unpack a more useful way to think about artificial intelligence in education: not as a replacement for writers, but as a revision tutor that helps writers grow. Along the way, we dig into what “authentic voice” and academic integrity look like when AI tools are everywhere, and why writing still matters becau...
Guest: Michael Leggs