AI Writing
How Do AI Writers Work? Everything You Need to Know
Discover the truth behind AI writers, using AI as a writing assistant, and how to use AI to supercharge your workflow (without sacrificing quality).
How do AI writers work? That's a question that many find themselves asking as the text begins to flow in on the computer screen after firing across another quick prompt.
Today, let’s answer that question! Not only that but let’s also review the pros and cons of using AI writers and discuss what role they could play in content creation in the not-so-distant future.
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Before we dive in, let's take a quick minute to explain what an AI writer is and clarify what type of AI writing this article is reviewing.
An AI writer is a software tool that uses artificial intelligence to generate text based on your input. Think of it as a super-powered autocomplete that drafts content like blog posts, social media captions, or website copy.
AI writers are essentially powered by machine learning models trained on massive amounts of text data (examples: websites, articles, books, and code).
AI models learn to identify patterns within this data, such as the type of grammar, sentence structure, and how frequently words are used together.
When it comes to asking an AI writer a query, it implements its learnings to generate written content in response, which typically replicates the data it studied.
Essentially, an AI content generator or AI writer analyzes a prompt and then references the vast database of text it has been trained on to find the most relevant pieces. Next, it assembles these pieces using its understanding of grammar and sentence structure to create new content that matches the prompt.
With that in mind, what are some benefits or pros of AI writing software?
AI writers can churn out content much faster than humans, allowing you to get more done in less time. With productivity demands that are higher than ever for content marketers, small business owners, and freelancers, having a tool like AI in their back pocket is fantastic for increasing workload capacity.
A tool that helps draft high-quality content briefs or social media posts enables marketers to focus more on content marketing strategy.
AI writing tools are excellent at catching typos, grammatical errors, and awkward phrasing. They can help ensure your writing is polished and professional.
For some, this might not seem like a requirement (if their grammar is immaculate). Yet, for many, typing rapidly in between large gulps of coffee, a quick spelling check can make all the difference in creating a well-constructed narrative.
Is there anything more frustrating as a creative than writer's block? You've got a huge list of things to do, and you can't even make it past the first sentence!
Fortunately, AI can help brainstorm ideas for content ideation so you can overcome writer's block and greatly reduce the impact it has on your productivity.
AI can analyze data to suggest keywords and optimize your content for search engines, potentially increasing website traffic.
By scraping the top search results for a specific topic, AI can help you develop SEO content briefs that not only meet Google and audience expectations but surpass them.
Whilst all that sounds incredible, there are some significant drawbacks and issues with AI writing tools.
AI writers struggle with fresh ideas because they rely on existing information and patterns. So, they are currently unable to come up with fresh perspectives or ideas.
This type of content creation can lead to generic content lacking a unique voice, which your audience may dislike. Further, Google prioritizes people-first content and could penalize mass-produced AI content, according to its recent Helpful Content updates designed to tackle the rise of AI content spam.
AI gathers information from various sources that may not always be reliable, which could cause AI hallucinations or factual errors.
Some notable examples from Google's recent AI-generated search result program highlight this issue perfectly.
AI algorithms can reflect biases in their training data, warping it to a particular narrative. If left unchecked by search engines it could potentially rise to the top of the rankings, influencing the opinions of whoever searches that term (which is why fact-checking is important).
On top of that, AI may continue to scrape the top results for its output. This could compound the problem and further its bias.
Overdependence on AI writing tools could diminish critical thinking and writing skills. For example, if you simply generate blog posts on specific topics rather than learning the information, interpreting it, and crafting your own perspective, you could struggle to expand on those thoughts when discussing them in person.
There are also questions about the originality and ownership of AI-written content. With the content coming from other people's output online, is it ethically okay to pass off that work as your own?
Read more about the ethics of AI content generation.
So where does that leave us when it comes to the future of artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and the human writing process?
Here are some predictions of how artificial intelligence and machine learning could be used to create content in the near future.
AI writers are already incredibly powerful and, when used correctly, can be incredibly effective content marketing assistants.
As AI writers become more sophisticated, they’ll continue to offer better support in key content strategy aspects, including brainstorming and research.
An understanding of both the capabilities and limitations of AI writing tools is already developing. AI tools are becoming more common for content creation support — rather than a replacement for high-quality content writers.
As the future unfolds, the best results will likely come from teams combining human creativity and editorial skills with AI's efficiency and data analysis.
One thing is certain: AI writers aren't going anywhere, and AI developers are continuously working on improving areas like understanding context, nuance, and factual accuracy. As AI’s current shortcomings are addressed it may alter how the tools are used in the future.
Using an AI writer for marketing content can be ethically okay, but transparency is key. Disclose if the content is AI-generated and ensure it adheres to advertising regulations and Google’s Helpful Content Policies.
For academic writing, however, it’s typically best to avoid AI writers (unless an assignment specifies it) due to potential plagiarism concerns and the need for original research and analysis.
As you can see, AI writers are a powerful tool that can assist with content creation by boosting efficiency, improving grammar, and overcoming writer's block.
However, it's important to remember that they currently lack creativity and can generate factually inaccurate or biased content. To avoid these pitfalls, use AI writers as a support to your research, creativity, and unique perspective.
Although artificial intelligence speeds up the content creation process, it can’t replace the skill set of a human writer.
Transparent use of an AI writer is generally okay ethically because you are disclosing to your audience that AI is part of your content creation process.
Then, for academic writing, review the assignment or publication guidelines before incorporating AI into your workflow. Incorporate further reviews, remember to fact-check AI content carefully, and keep an eye out for duplicate content that could lead to intellectual property concerns.