Using AI to Enhance (Not Replace) Your Writing

AI is a hot topic in the content marketing community, and that’s reasonable. The technology is relatively new, and we’re all learning how to incorporate it into our work.

The conversations tend to fall into one of two overarching camps:

• Panic. My freelance colleagues are concerned that AI will eliminate their jobs or reduce their pay rate.

• Power. People who once hired freelance writers are certain that AI can do the job just as well as a human, so outsourcing content no longer makes sense.

• Punitive. Companies tell their freelancers they cannot use AI at all, and then use worthless tools to “prove” their workers used bots (which means the freelancers don’t get paid).

I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

While it’s true that AI has changed the freelance writing market and more disruptions are sure to come, the industry isn’t dead.

As freelancers who understand AI, it’s our responsibility to explain why humans are still needed. It’s also beneficial for our long-term employment to help non-writers understand how AI works, how skilled freelancers use the new tools, and how AI checkers don’t tell the whole story.

AI Writing Enhancement Opportunities

I use AI tools like ChatGPT to help me with plenty of common writing tasks, including the following:

• Background research. Chat GPT can help me gain a high-level understanding of a topic I’ve never written about before. It can also give me excellent Google search terms to uncover things like studies and competitor sites.

• Structure. After completing my research, I typically have disparate thoughts I need to organize in some way. ChatGPT can help me with this crucial step.

• Coaching. Awkward sentences, blocky transitions, or clunky terms can interfere with smooth writing. I often ask Chat GPT to help me brainstorm solutions to pesky problems, so my editor gets a clean draft.

• Proofing. Grammarly is an exceptional AI tool for a final proofreading pass. It’s particularly adept at flagging repeating words and phrases that readers find annoying.

  
  

What AI Writing Can’t Do

Notice that my list does not include basic writing tasks. I never ask AI tools to help me write rough drafts, create introductory sentences, write headlines, or anything that should come straight from my brain and my voice.

Do AI checkers sometimes flag my content as computer generated? Of course. I’ve written a LOT of web content over my 15 years as a freelancer, and those pieces have been fed into the AI algorithm. The computer has been trained on voices like mine, and it assumes we’re also computers.

If my clients use AI checkers and tell me my content is computer generated, I send them one of the myriad news articles about these tools flagging the Declaration of Independence as AI. (Yes, that really happened.)

Clients deserve to know the limitations of the screening tools they use. They also need to understand that most skilled freelancers will incorporate AI in some form into the work.

That’s not cheating. That’s a value-add step that results in better content.

What Clients Can Do

If you’re considering freelance help (and here’s why you should), have a frank discussion with your partner about the AI work you’re comfortable with. Be open to allowing your freelancer to use the tools needed to create the content you want. Allow experimentation. You’ll be glad you did.