The emergence of advanced AI generative writing software has sparked a debate among writers regarding its value. The answer to this question varies depending on the writer’s perspective.
Traditionalists view writing as an art form and will not consider using anything other than pen and paper. On the other hand, content creators generate substantial income using powerful AI tools and do not object to their use. Most writers fall somewhere in between and are still deliberating on the issue.
The truth is, being a writer is very difficult at this moment. It is hard to compete with the amount of full-page content generated using content-generating software.
It is not the first time writers have been in this battle. In the early days of SEO, content-producing machines garbled keyword text so severely that no one could read it. It was pretty obvious which websites used real writers and which did not. Google fixed this problem and penalized websites for trying to cheat the system.
This is part of why many people hesitate to use artificially generated content. They fear it will replace human writing capabilities, and the search engines will penalize them for using it. Google does not penalize a website for using AI; they penalize a website for lousy content, content with no value or correlation to the website or content with garbled text.
AI was not meant to replace writing but rather to enhance it. The writer writes the main textual points, and AI edits them for grammar and suggests improvements. This helps the writer improve their skills because they get accustomed to seeing what grammatical errors keep occurring and learn how to fix them.
There seems to be a stigma around using tools to write that makes it seem unauthentic. Guitarists use foot petals to produce different sounds; artists use paintbrushes and textures to create paintings; why can’t writers use AI to create stories? There is nothing wrong with using writing tools so long as the writer does not replace the entire piece.
The reluctance to adopt AI is often due to the fear of plagiarism. However, AI-generated content is not plagiarized because it creates text independently, without borrowing from others. It’s important to understand that using AI for its intended purpose is acceptable and practical. Writers can benefit from the time it takes to write an article, lowering the cost of writing.
Consider these AI tools and software for your next writing project:
- Sudowrite, available for a relatively low price of $19, is great for beginners. It offers plot twists and on-the-spot suggestions for improving sentence structure.
- Grammarly is the best tool for proofreading and allows you to set the tone for your audience. Meanwhile, WordTune is ideal for rewriting challenging sentences.
- Authors.ai, designed for self-publishing, provides critique and suggestions for manuscript improvement through its bot, Marlowe.
- In addition to traditional options like Google Docs and Microsoft Word, there are new word processing software like Scrivener that will generate text.
- A digital notebook with AI such as ReMarkable is the most valuable tool any writer can have at their disposal because it is portable and you can jot down any thought that comes to mind for safekeeping.
It’s worth noting that AI-generated content is often characterized by quick, precise writing and a lack of slang. I believe writers will use this technology wisely to enhance their craft and provide better-quality content. Or, at least, I hope so because I love to write.
Image by Riekus from Pixabay