My advice — Don’t ignore AI. It can save everyone time and money. In the same way spellcheck changed copyediting in the 1980s, AI is making many human tasks easier today. But AI is a tool, not an employee. Make sure you understand and respect its limits.

AI can’t:

• Write in your voice.
• Decide which metaphor really lands your message.
• Fact-check anything.
• Escape word-salad style writing, where every other sentence is punctuated by a list of three adjectives. Ugh!
• Design a campaign that meets your organizational priorities and strategies.
• Ghostwrite about long, complex topics. It can take more time to fix bad copy than to write from scratch!

Many companies leverage AI by using human writers, editors, and project managers to handle tasks that require creativity and judgment. Think of AI like tasking out the grunt work of an editorial assignment to your lowest paid office assistant.

AI can:

• Take a first pass at internet research, by summarizing what a Google search might tell you. (But you should follow up for accuracy, ‘cause AI also makes stuff up!)
• Show you how to write in another format, translating a robust report into an article, blog, or social media post. (But you should review the style. Human editors are still better at writing for impact.)
• Brainstorm ideas. When you have a mental block, AI can always get something down on the page. (But you should edit, edit, edit to get what you really want to say. AI isn’t a very good mind reader!)

So go ahead and try AI. If you like what you get, then hooray! You’re fine. If you need a human writer to make it better, or to do something AI just can’t, reach out. I can clean up your AI content and give your message a human voice.