AI can be very helpful when properly integrated into the writing process. It can make a lot of things easier and quicker. But, with all the good sides, there are also some undeniable downsides as well. The downsides have to be kept in mind so that they can be avoided and mitigated.
In this post, we’re going to look at the pros and cons of using AI for writing. But before that, we will look at how you can use it in the first place.
How can AI be incorporated into your writing process?
1. AI can be used in content planning and idea generation
One of the ways in which AI can be used in the writing process is content planning and idea generation.
AI can be used for generating ideas and content plans with the help of tools of dedicated idea generation and outline creation tools. There are a lot of those available on the Internet. With idea generators, for example, you can simply enter a keyword (or a whole bunch of them) and then the tool creates different ideas that you can use to write content on.
Here is what this looks like:
In the image above, we’ve used the idea generator by Portent. Hopefully, that gives you a glimpse of how these tools work.
2. AI can be used for research purposes
When we say that AI can be used for research purposes, we don’t refer to academic research i.e., that requires the research material to be precise and up to date. Rather, AI can be used when you have to understand a particular concept or if you want to get some general information about a topic.
In this regard, we’re going to cite the example of ChatGPT. Although it is not specifically marketed as a “research” tool, it can be used effectively for this purpose. You can use the tool to get your head around difficult concepts so that it is easier for you to write on them. Since ChatGPT is an assistant, it can be used to give specific and personalized explanations to help you understand better.
Here is what this sort of interaction with the tool would look like:
3. AI can be used to improve content quality
This is another way in which AI can be integrated into the writing process. You can first write your content as you want and then improve the quality by using AI. And by that, we refer to a few specific ones.
You see, there are some online tools that generate content from scratch. There are others that just spot errors and mistakes in it. But, along with all those, there are also some tools that can simply tweak the content just to improve its overall quality.
By those, we refer to paraphrasing tools.
Paraphrasing tools reword and rephrase the content they are given. The purpose of these tools is to change the wording and structuring of the text so that it looks different but has the same meaning and intent as before.
Nowadays, paraphrasing tools have advanced a lot, and they use AI models in their working. Due to that, the changes they introduce into the content improve its quality. To give you an idea, we’re going to use a paraphrasing tool called Paraphraseonline.io. You can see in the output how the quality of the content has been improved.
4. AI can be used to make proofreading more accurate
AI can also be incorporated into the writing process during the proofreading phase. The proofreading phase is where the written content is read and checked to find errors and mistakes in it. The purpose of paraphrasing is to:
- Find grammar errors
- Find spelling mistakes
- Look for faults in the organization and formatting
- Find non-SEO-friendly elements
And so on.
There are different AI tools available on the Internet that can be used for purposes like these.
Pros of Using AI Tools in the Writing Process
Now that we’ve looked at how AI tools can be used in the writing process, let’s take a look at why you should use them. In other words, let’s discuss the pros of AI in writing.
- Saves time: The main benefit of using AI is that it saves you a lot of time. The stuff that you usually have to spend hours on can be done in a matter of minutes. And the stuff that you have to spend minutes on can be done in seconds. There are various things, such as research, outline creation, etc., that can take up a tremendous amount of time. AI helps in quickening those processes.
- Saves money: Normally, people who don’t have the time or skill to write content themselves hire other people to do it for them. Similarly, even people who do write content on their own can find themselves having to hire people for proofreading and editing purposes. In the former case, AI tools can help save money by allowing the unskilled people to easily create high-quality content. And in the latter case, AI can help the writers themselves by saving them the costs of hiring editors and whatnot.
- Helps build writing skills: When used in moderation and in an assistive capacity, AI tools can be a great way for writers to build their skills. For example, if a writer improves their content using a paraphrasing tool, they can take note of the changes that the tool makes. Then, they can incorporate the same type of wording or sentence formation in their own writing style – thus improving it.
These are some of the main pros of using AI in the writing process.
Cons of Using AI in Writing
As is the case with almost every good thing, there are some cons that bar it from being the ideal and perfect solution. The same is the situation with AI in writing. While there are undeniable benefits of using it, there are some unequivocal downsides as well.
- It can sap creativity when used excessively: Using AI in moderation is usually fine. But it’s very easy and tempting to delegate just about any writing task to it. When this sort of approach is taken – where AI takes over – the creativity and skill of the writer are diminished. This can eventually lead them to lose more and more grip on their writing prowess.
- AI requires supervision and checking: While helpful, using AI does require supervision. You have to check the results and outputs that the AI tools/software provide to ensure that there are no issues or errors in them. This basically adds a layer of checks on the writing process. When writing yourself, you have to do the basic once-overs and everything, but when you’re using AI, you have to give special attention to that as well.
Conclusion
And that is pretty much it.
There are many different ways in which AI can be incorporated into the writing process. It can be very helpful in saving time and effort and overall improving the productivity of writers.
We’ve talked about some of the main applications of AI in the post above, and we’ve also explained their pros and cons. The best way to utilize these types of tools in your writing route is to be wary of the cons (such as overreliance) so that you can get the benefits barring the disadvantages.