Recently, there’s been a lot of buzz surrounding AI in the productivity realm.
Writing apps, such as Craft, have added AI to their list of features. From within Craft, you can request the AI to create a summary or outline of your document, write an article based on your outline, or write about a topic. Web resources such as ChatGPT make AI readily accessible to anyone on the web.
Some writers and speakers are pessimistic when it comes to the use of AI. They think that AI is a passing fad that will have little impact on writers. Or, they are not impressed with the text produced by AI and don’t see it as useful (at least at this point).
Others have an overly optimistic view of AI, speculating that in the near future AI will replace human writing. Some worry that people will misuse AI by letting it replace their creative work and just copy whatever it produces. This has already become a serious problem in schools, where some students are using AI to write papers and skip the educational value of doing their own research, organization, and writing.
On the other hand, some people, including myself, have found great value in using AI to improve my writing. Even though it can be misused, AI can also be a powerful tool to enhance the creative process.
AI is Nothing New As an Aid to Writing
For years, I’ve been using AI to strengthen my writing.
Writing tools like Grammarly and the revision mode in Ulysses are in reality forms of AI. They have helped me edit my grammar and spelling for years now, and many if not most writers take advantage of these kinds of AI tools.
Likewise, searches in DevonThink have long taken advantage of AI to analyze databases and find files related to search terms, even if they don’t use the same keywords. Its use of AI is one of the main reasons I use DevonThink as my primary Personal Knowledge Management tool.
AI isn’t replacing my writing and research but is helping to improve it. I consider the suggestions AI makes and decide what I’ll use and what I won’t. I’m in control, not the AI. It’s just another tool in my bag of tools.
How I’m Using the “New” AI to Improve My Writing
What is new is the extent and capabilities of AI. Now I am taking advantage of those to further improve my writing.
Ways to Use AI
Here are some of the ways I’ve been using AI:
1. Ask AI to generate an article about the topic or sub-topic I’m writing on. My purpose in doing this is not to copy and paste the resulting article as my own, but to help me to identify any crucial points I might have missed. Used this way, it’s another form of research.
2. Ask the AI to create a blog post based on my comprehensive writing outline. I do my research and write an extensive mind map in MindNode. I convert that to an outline and feed it to AI, asking “create a blog post based on this outline.” Some of the resulting text I use, and some I don’t. This can result in an amazingly accurate and readable result. Because it’s based on my outline, it often accurately reflects my interests and points, even melding in relevant quotes I’ve placed in my outline.
3. Request an outline of my written article. This helps me identify any gaps in my logic. In addition, it might help me realize that I need to reorder my material to follow a more natural flow of logic.
4. Summarize my writing. By having AI provide a summary, I can make sure that my main points are coming through. Sometimes I even use sentences from the summary in my conclusion or as the meta description in WordPress.
5. Ask AI to suggest a headline for a blog post. When I begin the process of writing a blog post, I usually title it with the topic. But this usually makes for a boring headline. I’ve used the AI in Craft to propose multiple headlines that I can compare. Sometimes I’ll use one, or the AI’s suggestion will lead me to create one.
6. Ask AI, “How can I improve this post?” At times, the AI’s advice is shockingly helpful. It points out weaknesses in my writing I wasn’t aware of. Two examples:
- “Add a clear introduction: The post jumps right into the topic without providing any context or background information.”
- “Break up the content into smaller sections: The post is quite lengthy and could be overwhelming for some readers.”
Both were excellent ideas that prompted me to revise my writing.
How ChatGPT Answered the Question, “How can AI help a writer?”
As an experiment, I asked ChatGPT the Question, “How can AI help a writer?” Yes, I’m asking AI how AI can help me.
Here’s the answer:
“AI can help a writer in several ways, including:
- Generating ideas: AI language models, such as ChatGPT, can suggest new topics and angles to explore based on existing content, trends, or user input.
- Researching: AI-powered tools can quickly scan vast amounts of data, extract relevant information, and present it to the writer in a structured and digestible format. This can help writers save time and avoid information overload.
- Writing assistance: AI can help writers with tasks such as proofreading, grammar checking, and sentence structure suggestions. Some AI tools can even generate text based on input prompts or automatically summarize long articles.
- Personalization: AI can analyze a writer’s previous work, preferences, and style to provide personalized suggestions for improvements, such as using more active voice or adjusting tone and vocabulary.
- Content optimization: AI can analyze data on how readers engage with content, such as click-through rates, bounce rates, and time spent on page, to provide recommendations on how to optimize content for maximum impact.
Overall, AI can help writers improve the quality and efficiency of their work by providing new ideas, assisting with research and writing, offering personalized feedback, and optimizing content for readers.”
It’s Easy to Let AI Help You to Become a Better Writer
When used responsibly, AI can be an invaluable tool for improving your writing. Ultimately, writers are in control and are able to evaluate AI suggestions and decide what to implement and ignore.
Some writers about AI indicate that using AI can make you more efficient and save time, but my experience is mixed. Sometimes, if I use a lot of the narrative AI generates from the outline I’ve created, it does save time by placing the bulk of the meat on the bones of my outline. On the other hand, using AI takes more time when I’ve written a blog post and use AI to do further editing and polish.
How to Use AI
With the right tools, anyone can use the power of AI to become a better writer. Here’s how you can get started:
To use AI, you can sign up for a free account at ChatGPT. Some apps like Craft have AI built-in. All you have to do is type ⌘/return and it comes up. Notion recently implemented AI capabilities as well, but I haven’t tested them out.
• Try asking some questions about the topic you’re writing about. Ask it to draft an article about the topic, an outline, or a summary.
Example: “What should I include in an article about using AI to improve my writing?” You’ll likely learn some aspects of a topic you had overlooked and might want to include.
• Copy and paste an article you’ve written into ChatGPT. Ask how you can improve it. Ask for a summary. Request headline suggestions. Ask it to proofread and provide editing suggestions.
Consider the AI’s suggestions and decide what to implement and what to ignore. You’re in charge.
More Information on Using AI to Improve Your Writing
There are a couple of other sources you might want to read about using AI:
How I Use Artificial Intelligence for Digital Writing, by Lance Cummings, PhD.
How Artificial Intelligence Can Improve Your Writing, by JM Miana.