One communicator recently shared with me that AI writes every message she sends. An hour later, a second person told me she never uses AI for writing.
“People can tell,” she says. “Whenever I’m scrolling LinkedIn and see an AI post… I quickly click off. Our audience has exploded, mainly because there are humans writing the pieces.”
Where do you fall on the AI-for-writing spectrum?
“Our audience has exploded, mainly because there are humans writing the pieces.”
I’m somewhere in the middle. I use AI for every single piece I write. But I don’t think I’ve ever pressed “Send,” on even a single AI-written sentence. The final product is so much better if I write it myself.
When clients ask me to train their teams on writing with AI, I am delighted to do it, with this caveat: “The best way to become a good writer with AI,” I say, “is to become a good writer, period.”
So how do you do that? Use AI to:
- Connect with your audience.
AI is essentially a flying car. We use it to write crappy emails.
Use your favorite chatbot strategically instead. Have it help you get into the minds of your readers.
Ask Perplexity what keeps your audience members up at night. Those pain points should be the key messages of your campaign.
Or ask ChatGPT to transform your list of product features into benefits.
It turns out a robot can help you relate better to humans!
- Write better leads.
The feature-style story structure can increase reading by 520% and readers by 300% (Groove HQ). That means concrete, creative, provocative first paragraphs.
Have your bot fetch statistics, compile news headlines or develop analogies about your topic. That will give you the data and details you’ll need to write feature leads.
- Work the creative process.
Just for fun, my sister and I craft earrings out of repurposed jewelry that we buy at thrift stores and estate sales.
The biggest problem with jewelry making is inventory. If I Zen out making a pair of earrings after work every day, then, at the end of the year, I have 365 pairs of earrings. I don’t have that many ears — or friends!
In an attempt to unload some of our creations, we’ve started a little jewelry company that sells earrings to boutiques and museum gift shops.
I turned to AI to help name the company, with a nod to the fact that we are sisters. The results were embarrassing, from Sparkle Sisters to Sustainable Shimmer.
After mucking about with AI, though, it occurred to me that my mother’s name was Opal — and her sister’s name was Jewel! Opal & Jewel! What a great name — and back story — for a sister’s jewelry company.
So why didn’t I think of that before spending all that time with ChatGPT? Because that’s the creative process: You muck about, seemingly wasting time. Then, having simmered on your research for a while, your brain delivers a great idea.
AI is great at helping you muck about.
But most of the time, you must bring human intelligence to artificial intelligence for the best ideas and messages.
Ann Wylie (WylieComm.com) helps PR professionals Catch Your Readers through writing training. Her workshops take her from Hollywood to Helsinki, helping communicators in organizations like Coca-Cola, Toyota, Eli Lilly and Salesforce draw readers in and move them to act. Never miss a tip: FreeWritingTips.wyliecomm.com.
Copyright © 2025 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.
Photo credit: terovesalainen
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