The song was written alongside Scott Harris, Aldae, producers The Monsters & Strangerz, German (of TM&S), & Josh Gudwin, and co-producer Ido Zmishlany.
[6] Billboard's Jason Lipshutz ranked "As I Am" as the twelfth-best song on Justice, opining that the pairing of Bieber and Khalid "plays out just as fans would have hoped" and that it "should be the first of several team-ups between the two".
[7] Craig Jenkins from Vulture wrote that the collaboration "fools you into thinking it's another muted ballad before knocking you over the head with a massive drop".
[9] Similarly, Chris Willman of Variety believed Khalid was one of several guest artists on Justice "who actually feel like they complement Bieber somehow".
[10] By contrast, Ali Shutler of The Daily Telegraph turned down Khalid's guest appearance on the song as unexciting.