Arrow Left
profile

Content + Design

ChatGPT and other AI tools: A guide for writers and editors

Published over 1 year ago • 6 min read

​

The popularity of AI writing tools shows that long-form written content isn’t dead. That's the good news. Now let's use us it responsibly.

AI is your power tool that you wield and control. You invite it to work with you, and you can kick it to the curb whenever you want. Its output may sound righteous or dated, you need to check its sources and correct biases and assumptions, but you can tame it and make it yours.

Will AI replace you, the human writer, anytime soon, as many doomsayers have already proclaimed? No. Because good writing is a labor of love, a skill, an emotion and a mental state that requires a human approach and intuition to reach other humans. As human writers, only we know whom we are addressing — and only a human will write with other humans in mind.

Like it or not, AI will be a part of your writing career, and you will use AI tools in your daily work. But AI requires human writers to supply a constant stream of content to harvest. To become more human-like, it would need to acquire common sense. For now, AI only pulls content from various sources and analyzes the what and the how. It doesn’t curate. It doesn’t evaluate. It can’t process the why or the why now. It can’t distinguish between the real and the fake.

Ask yourself what you do best and what AI could do better. Then, explore how you can use AI to reveal concepts that generate authentic outcomes. AI will support, not replace, you. Virtual bots will become our little helpers. We just need to find the right balance between the artificial and the human.

Questions? Here are some answers.

​

What is an AI writing tool, like ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an advanced computer program fed millions of published documents, books, websites and other research material (data mining). The program uses those resources to train itself to summarize, analyze, communicate creatively and answer questions. More than a million people have tried AI content-creating tools since OpenAI launched its free ChatGPT in November 2022, and many use its Google Chrome add-on. A paid pro version is on the way. Other AI programs power Google’s and Bing’s search engines.
​

What AI can do for you:

  • initial copyediting
  • craft templates and contracts (i.e., “write a contract for a freelancer”)
  • create competition- and user profiles and conduct user research
  • provide background info — your Wikipedia on steroids
  • consider the pros and cons of a topic
  • fine-tune headlines
  • generate questions and answers to discover new angles
  • write summaries (i.e., “summarize the following text”)
  • turn an article into a bulleted list
  • slice longer content into bite-size social media posts (i.e., Lately)
  • convert PDF files into workable resources (i.e., Swiss)
  • check grammar and spelling (i.e., Grammarly, ProWritingAid, PerfectIt)
  • perform basic literal translations (i.e., Google Translate)
    ​

What you can do to use AI responsibly:

  • use plagiarism detection tools to identify suspicious AI content (i.e., Plag, Originality.ai, GPTZero, Plagibot, Writer)
  • apply virtual watermarks to your original content
  • train your editors to recognize and flag any issues with AI-generated writing
  • establish clear guidelines for AI-assisted writing for your writers and editors
  • clearly label any usage of AI-generated content in your writing and cite it as a source
  • use AI as your power tool, not to cheat
  • run any copy through an AI content detector before sharing or sourcing it (i.e.,https://writer.com/ai-content-detector/ or Hive). By the way, a typo in a text is a good indicator that it may be human-written
  • be aware that your writing may lose some of its distinctiveness. You might get pulled into a perfectionist mindset when confronted with “errors” or suggestions before fully forming your ideas.
    ​

What other human writers say:

“Chatbots cannot deal with concepts they have never seen before. And they cannot take ideas and explore them in the physical world. […] The onus is on you to be wary of what these systems say and do, to edit what they give you and to approach everything you see online with skepticism. Researchers know how to give the systems a wide range of skills, but they do not yet know how to give them reason or common sense or a sense of truth. That still lies with you.” (Cade Metz, The New York Times).
“AI is a robot perched on our shoulder, not the creator at the keyboard. […] We writers can’t passively sit back and let AI write ‘for us.’ The way to use AI is as a gymnast using a spotter and a coach — a way to help you create with more confidence. Even fearlessly. Yet it’s your talent that drives AI. You are the gymnast! […] Your relationship with your audience matters more than ever. You write faster first drafts, but you can’t shortcut relationships.” (Ann Handley)

“ChatGPT is proof that finding ‘truth’ is a lot trickier than having enough data and the right algorithm. […] Don’t let these tools dazzle you beyond reason. Don’t anthropomorphize them. Ask hard questions about what they’re purported to do.” (Jenna Burrell, Poynter)

“AI is very good at delivering predictable work. This gives us the opportunity to reject their suggestion and turn in the other direction; to more creative, novel and less predictable areas.” (Annabel Blake, Writing for Renegades)
“If machine learning offers artificial intelligence, humans offer authentic intelligence. We do well with voice and tone (especially humor). We understand context and can write with empathy. While AI does well with creativity, we are better divergent thinkers.” (John Spencer)
“For creative endeavors, I never want to have something else come up with my writing. The holistic labor of creative writing is struggling to succinctly translate your own experiences and ideas from your mental space to the physical realm. My ideas and the ways I express them in text are the most precious things I have, the ones that differentiate me from everyone else. Moreover, in the process of generating the written form of your ideas, you come up with different ways of thinking about them.” (Vickie Boykis)

​
Which AI content tools to try:

  • ​AI Writer (generates AI articles from headlines)
  • ​Sudowrite (for authors)
  • ​Lex (word processor with built-in AI)
  • ​Moonbeam (long-form writing assistant)
  • ​ChatGPT (conversational chats)
  • ​Perplexity (conversational chats with source attribution)
  • ​Peppertype (for marketing content)
  • ​Cogniwerk (transforms inputs, i.e., “from text to image”)
  • ​Dall-E 2 (creates visuals)
    ​

How NOT to sound like an AI robot in your writing:

  • always adapt your tone and voice to your audience
  • ignore AI prompts that alert you to get rid of passive voice
  • write like you speak and be authentic
  • use ‘you’ and ‘I’ and show personality
  • get to the point and write clearly and concisely
  • provide original points of view and unique perspectives backed by first-hand knowledge that forge human connections
  • write with compassion and empathy
  • use your imagination
  • read your text out loud before you hit publish or send
    ​

Resources:

​https://github.com/humanloop/awesome-chatgpt — dozens of pre-written prompts to initiate “conversations” with ChatGPT

​https://hackernoon.com/174-ai-tools-to-try — a list of AI tools to try

​https://dataconomy.com/2022/04/artificial-intelligence-terms-ai-glossary/ — an AI glossary to get lost in

​https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/19/1065596/how-to-spot-ai-generated-text/ — how to spot AI-generated text

​https://macmost.com/how-to-use-chatgpt-to-help-you-write.html — how to use ChatGPT as a creative writing assistant

(At the time of writing, all links worked. Should any be broken when you read this, my apologies)

​

Bottom line: Take your time and explore what’s out there. Be diligent and cautious. Apply the usual editorial checks and balances: respect copyrights, check sources, give attribution, employ fair sharing policies and follow every other ethical guideline as with your own writing. Don’t copy-paste AI-generated content as is. Let it do the heavy lifting, then fine-tune it and make it yours.

This is what ChatGPT generated when I asked it: “AI — friend or foe?”
(I left the output unedited):

“AI writing can be both a friend and a foe, depending on how it is used. On the one hand, AI writing technology can be used to automate routine tasks, such as writing news articles or composing business emails, which can save time and increase efficiency. On the other hand, AI writing technology can also be used to generate fake news or impersonate individuals online, which can be harmful. Overall, the impact of AI writing will likely depend on how it is regulated and used by society.”

Yep. Deploy AI as a powerful tool for your growth right now instead of falling victim to any of its disruptions to your writing career later on.

Let us regulate AI sooner rather than later to prevent misuse and harm. Until then, use it responsibly and provide your readers with excellent writing — as only humans can.

​

With that in mind, that’s all for today.
​
​Tekla Szymanski​
​Content+Design™
New York・Berlin

​
​

​

Client feedback: “Tekla is a strong communicator who truly understands new media and blends the best attributes of print journalism with an in-depth understanding of web design, technology and usability. Her command of several languages offers a unique perspective on communicating succinctly in the new age of brief messages. Her professionalism is impeccable.”

​
Questions?​
​

You can update your name and email address (or unsubscribe) by using the links below. I will never share your data with others and value your privacy. Please consider adding editor@tekla-szymanski.com to your address book to avoid emails getting lost in your spam folder or your promotions tab. And be sure to move my emails into your primary inbox, so they go to the right place for you. Thank you.

Content + Design

Tekla Szymanski

Without quality content, you don't have a website. Become a better sentient writer (and designer) in the digital world. Because every word counts.

Read more from Content + Design

Hi Reader, Reader, as a subscriber, you know my pledge is never to promote my services or market myself through my newsletter. I aim to land in your inbox every other Wednesday with valuable, actionable information about content + design topics of interest to anyone who wants to improve on or plans to create a content-rich website. This email is different. I’d like to share with you a new service that I offer, for a flat rate fee, to anyone reluctant to start a larger project, who has budget...

6 months ago • 1 min read

Have you ever been unsure how to present your content, or overwhelmed by the entire writing and publishing process? Yes, writing is hard. Yet it is structured and follows certain rules. That helps. But there's more to it if you want to create content that stands out. You also need to remember the 4 Cs that every piece of published writing relies on. Following these steps meticulously helps ensure you're more than just good at your craft as a writer and can present your stories effectively and...

over 1 year ago • 1 min read

Reading and understanding are complex neurological concepts. We want to “get into our readers' minds” to give them what they need when they need it in an understandable and valuable way. We want to motivate them to appreciate and consciously act upon our writing. Neuro writing helps do that. It is a neurocognitive tactic that uses persuasive, engaging, honest, straightforward, easy-to-grasp, yet stimulating language. Here are a few concepts in neuro writing to help trigger your readers’...

over 1 year ago • 2 min read