Still skeptical about using AI?
Here’s my take to put you at ease
Are you still on the fence about using Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in your editorial work, content design or content strategy? Would you rather not adopt it because you fear it’s the end of creativity as we know it?
And do you believe AI will render us obsolete as writers and editors?
I hear you and share your concerns. For what it’s worth, here is my take on using GenAI. It may help you confront what’s in store for you or your line of work and deal with any potential changes.
When debating whether to use GenAI in your writing, editing and content strategy, I always recommend a thoughtful and purposeful approach that acknowledges AI tools as your helpful, eager assistants who require human judgment and oversight.
It may seem like your little helper is out to replace you, but it won’t anytime soon.
The good thing is that when using GenAI, you will become your fiercest critic. And employers who are eager to ditch their employees for AI tools will soon come to realize that, in most scenarios, humans still offer the best checks and balances. The bots need us.
Here’s how I use AI as my dedicated intern:
AI is primarily my productivity tool for ideation and editing, not for generating final content.
I use AI to support the writing process, never as a replacement for my human creativity and judgment.
AI helps me with tedious, repetitive background tasks.
It helps me with brainstorming and generating outlines, summaries and rewrites as well as with rough first-pass translations.
AI can be useful for conducting additional background research to speed up the early stages of a project.
Then it’s my turn to shine:
I vigorously edit the tool’s outputs for nuance, context and brand voice.
I take the time for in-depth fact-checking of data, statistics and quotes and apply my journalistic rigor.
After that, I customize or localize the AI output to adjust it to my audience’s specific needs.
Next, I humanize the output to eliminate biases and clichés, refining the content to sound human, conversational, current, original and authentic.
Last but not least, I apply quality assurance tests so that the AI-created content meets my high editorial standards, which I internalized while working as a journalist, writing coach and editor.
All these steps set me, the human writer, apart from even the best GenAI tool. I work more slowly, but I do so deliberately and thoroughly.
That’s my strength.
There’s more that differentiates me from GenAI:
I read between the lines, connect the dots and draw conclusions.
I champion the “Small Indie Web” over social media feeds and advocate for private platforms, where writers can engage in nuanced human-to-human conversations without algorithms or big tech companies taking control. My writing reflects this attitude.
I promote privacy-respecting tools, such as VPNs (e.g., Surfshark), fortified cloud services (e.g., Jottacloud) and secure browsers (e.g., Ulaa and Firefox Focus) for safer browsing, file storage and online connections.
I advocate for enforceable data and copyright protections for our creative work, especially when it is used to train GenAI.
I practice “Slow Writing” to counter the speed of AI, which involves taking time to craft authentic, original and story-based content that connects with my readers.
I keep my intellectual curiosity front and center, with topics ranging from global history, art and literature to politics, psychology, sociology and philosophy. AI is fed data in timed batches. I am a lifelong learner, every hour, every day.
I rely on my personal experience, my imagination and my gut. No one-size-fits-all is good enough for me.
I ask the why, not just the how, burst my own bubble whenever I can, engage with other humans, call out biases and subjective views and question herd mentality and undisputed conformity.
I conscientiously step outside my comfort zone and think outside the box.
When you call out GenAI’s flaws and acknowledge your own strengths, you understand the importance of sentient writers and editors in this virtual, seemingly perfectly functioning artificial world.
You have the opportunity to manipulate GenAI and steer it in the right direction without feeling threatened by it.
How powerful and liberating is that!
Bottom line: I believe that AI is a capable but flawed assistant. It is a starting point, not the final destination, in a world that still fundamentally relies on human intelligence, creativity and a commitment to quality and integrity.
Don’t fear it. Make it work for you.
That’s all for today.