When Should Your Freelance Writer Use AI?

Let’s face it: All freelance writers use AI. Whether they’re logged into fancy tools like Jasper or stripped-down interfaces like Grammarly, they’re using artificial intelligence to make their writing better.

You should know that where they use AI is more important than whether they use it. These are the basic rules I follow in my work.

AI Should Not Help You Brainstorm

I’ve read a lot of industry pieces lately that suggest writers should lean on AI when they’re staring at a blank page with an equally blank mind. To me, this is a huge mistake.

The value prop for AI in brainstorming sounds like this: AI can surface ideas and help a writer to get started. Since getting started is often the hardest and most time-consuming part of the work, it makes sense to offload it to AI.

I think research is a critical part of any writing project, and improper research leads to blank minds. If I sit down to write something and can’t think of how to fill the page, back to research I go. Clearly, I don’t know enough to get the story started.

Writers who offload brainstorming to AI are also offloading their critical thinking and understanding. That leads to thin, surface-level content that any computer could beat in seconds.

AI Should Help You Research

AI tools can streamline the research process, ensuring that writers know enough to get a project started. AI isn’t faster than traditional research methods, as we need to fact-check every tidbit we find. But sometimes, AI can surface things that a general search just can’t.

I sometimes use AI tools to help me find a very specific statistic that I’d like to weave into a story. With very long, specific, targeted queries, I can find the exact bit of data I need to prove my point and verify it. And if I can’t find that data point, I have uncovered an exceptional opportunity for original research.

I’d like to point out that writing effective queries really matters in uncovering quality research. A generic prompt (like: “Find me the number of deaths from heart attacks.”) is going to lead to the same number everyone else is using. A quality prompt (like: “You are an epidemiologist researching the number of deaths directly attributed to heart attacks in men….” And goes on for 50 more words) is likely to give you original data.

AI Should Help You Perfect

Writers need to turn off their internal editors while they create. If I’m constantly wondering if this comma is placed properly or that word should be hyphenated, I’ll never write anything. That means most writers need AI to find and fix errors.

A final pass should catch small problems that can keep good editors (and they are out there) from valuing your work. I use tools like Grammarly to find and flag issues that I can make or reject, depending on a client’s style guide.

I have used tools to help flag content that seems awkwardly worded or not in keeping with other pieces a client has published. That seems both fair and warranted. But I have never used AI to evaluate and rewrite an entire piece. Neither should any capable writer you might want to hire.

What’s So Bad About AI Freelance Writers Anyway?

Writing overly optimized by AI is sometimes described as too polished. Every word is predictable, with no surprises or verve. The result is a piece that sounds just like everyone else. Why even read it?

The best writers have a singular voice and tone, and they like to sprinkle in unusual words (like “verve”) to spice up the work. These are the choices AI tends to remove or never suggest in the first place.

All-AI writing can also be wildly inaccurate. Remember the research hallucinations I mentioned? They can appear in pieces spun up with no oversight.

So remember: Yes, your writer will use AI. That shouldn’t be an issue — if the guidelines I have mentioned are followed.