The AI feedback loop: Is AI teaching us to write like AI?
I was reading a Substack post recently that had some great original insights. I didn’t get written-by-AI vibes…until I got to the phrase “quietly reshaping.” “Quietly reshaping” is one of…
What do ChatGPT and Gone Girl have in common?
Don’t worry, it’s not murder. I love a novel with an unreliable narrator. You can’t take what they say at face value, and it’s fun to try to figure out…
Honestly, quietly, genuinely: ChatGPT’s adverb habit
Move over, em dash. There’s a new AI tell in town. We’ve all learned about certain words, language patterns, and punctuation that AI tools like ChatGPT use over and over.…
Keeping your readers’ trust in the age of AI
How would you feel if you learned that a health organization relied heavily on AI to create patient education materials? What if you discovered that a writer you admire regularly…
Brainstorming with AI: Prompts to expand your thinking
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…
How to use AI to create better article titles
Want better title suggestions? Give AI more to work with The title sets the stage for your article or blog post. It tells the reader what to expect and can…
To disclose or not to disclose: Acknowledging AI use in your writing
“If I used Claude to write a first draft, do I need to say so?” “If ChatGPT helped me organize my thoughts, but I did the writing myself, do I…
Your content collection has blind spots. AI can help find them.
People naturally react to visible problems. We aren’t very good at noticing what’s missing. Missing pieces are harder to detect because, well, there’s nothing there to see. It can be…
Does “plain language” have a naming problem?
Most people don’t ask for “plain language.” They ask for: Readers value clarity when they experience it. But those same people may say they don’t need, or want, “plain language.”…
What do we mean by “voice” in AI writing?
One of the biggest criticisms of writing with AI is that it “sounds” like AI. People want their writing to sound human—like them. They get irritated or feel duped when…
Content governance, explained (plus a few practical uses for AI)
I imagine there are a lot of content professionals out there who don’t know what “content governance” is despite doing it every day. When I first came across the term,…
How do you know when AI is wasting your time?
I’m always tinkering with AI tools, looking for ways to make my work faster or better. It’s both helpful and satisfying to hit on a strategy that works. But a…