Brainstorming can happen at almost any stage of a project, from defining a topic to refining a draft. It’s useful whenever you’re trying to explore possibilities. Brainstorming with AI is one way you can augment, not outsource, your thinking during the editorial process.
AI works best for brainstorming when you’ve defined the problem well, you have the domain knowledge needed to evaluate AI’s suggestions, and it’s not something requiring truly novel thinking or firsthand experience. Think blog topics, not writing your memoir.
Brainstorming isn’t just about churning out list of ideas. It’s also about uncovering new angles, identifying gaps, challenging assumptions, and making connections you might not have considered on your own.
The prompts below can help you get started:
Generate variations on an idea
- Give me ten different angles on this topic
- Create five versions of a title
- Suggest multiple approaches to a campaign
- Recommend adjacent topics I could cover
- What subtopics could I explore further?
Find gaps
- What haven’t I thought of here?
- What’s missing that might be helpful?
- What perspectives am I overlooking?
- What angles am I not seeing?
Evaluate a list of ideas
- Are there any ideas that are weak or don’t fit?
- What assumptions are limiting my thinking?
- Are any of the ideas redundant?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of each option?
Generate unconventional ideas
- What are some less obvious approaches?
- Give me ideas most people wouldn’t think of.
- What’s an unconventional take on this?
- What angle would be unexpected but still useful?
Organize the options
AI can’t decide which ideas are worth pursuing. It can, however, help you organize and consider your ideas in useful ways.
Try these prompts to help structure the ideas you’ve brainstormed:
- Group these ideas into a few larger themes.
- Create a hierarchy from broad concepts to specific ideas.
- Arrange these ideas from easiest to hardest to implement.
- Organize these ideas by potential impact.
- Create a logical sequence for exploring these ideas.
- What criteria could I use to prioritize these ideas?
Your best ideas probably won’t come directly from AI. But AI can help you uncover possibilities you might not have considered and give your own creativity more material to work with.
As always, it’s helpful to consider AI as a thinking partner and collaborator, not a replacement for your own fabulous, irreplaceable brain.