by Jackie Goutor
Confession: I’ve spent way too much time over the years tinkering with new programs and internet toys, from HTML programming to blogging to joining social media as soon as someone said “hi” online. So far, though, I have resisted trying out any AI products. It frankly feels to me like we’re in the VHS vs. Betamax stage and I’m content to wait until there’s one AI to rule them all.
So, I was excited when Editors Toronto began its 2023–24 events season with Braveen Kumar’s excellent presentation, “Beyond ChatGPT: Actually Useful AI for Writers & Editors.” Braveen has worked as a freelance writer and editor in the tech industry for more than eight years, including covering emerging technologies for Shopify, and now works for an AI startup. He is passionate about technology, culture, creativity, and careers, and has played around with many AI tools, including Jasper, Lex, Raycast, and Grammarly. We couldn’t have asked for a better guide to the current AI landscape.
Braveen began with a surprise, letting us know that he’s stopped using most AI products, including Jasper and ChatGPT, because they’re impractical, requiring writers to toggle back and forth between their workspaces and the AI apps. Braveen showed us an example: a flowchart generated by ChatGPT that included a link to flowchart software. Why start in one program and then move to another? Better, Braveen advised, to wait until AI is baked into design and workspace products. The AI closest to offering this kind of integration is Raycast, which Braveen is currently using because it’s convenient, affordable, and can be accessed from multiple tools on his Mac.
There are other limitations to AI. It is not a search engine and does not do research. This was an important point which Braveen illustrated with a reference to Harry Frankfurt’s On Bullshit. According to Frankfurt, when someone is bullshitting, they don’t know if what they’re saying is true. Similarly, AI doesn’t know when it is bullshitting—it’s only as good as what it can scrape from the internet. Editors will find the level of fact-checking required by AI-generated content extremely frustrating.
That said, if editors need to generate fast, cheap, and lower-quality material, AI is incredibly useful. Braveen called AI content “Lorem Ipsum 2.0,” hilariously, because AI is an excellent source of nonsense text if someone is designing a website or a mock-up. Other uses include the following:
- Brainstorming partner: writers can ask AI for 10 examples of a headline or pitch line, and even ask the program if a passage makes sense or how a particular audience (e.g., seniors, teens, etc.) might interpret a presentation.
- Summarizing: AI can summarize a report into bullet points or give a curious researcher the “TL;DR” on the Amelia Earhart conspiracy—although, for this latter use, we were reminded again that AI does not research, so requests for summaries should be for general interest topics.
- Style guide, SEO, and voice enforcement with tools like Grammarly: AI can provide an SEO score for online content.
Braveen closed on an optimistic note. AI, in Braveen’s opinion, will eventually be a great tool for editors because it will take on the more onerous tasks, such as spelling, grammar, style guide enforcement, and more. AI is expanding all the time, including into Google Sheets and the entire Microsoft suite. As it learns to read images, AI will be able to write better alt text, an important advancement in accessibility. And it will be a great tool for transcription as it learns to account for speech patterns, enunciation, accents, and more. As our host Anita put it, AI will take the grunt work out of the work.
(Braveen did miss one perfect use for AI: according to the Hard Fork Podcast, it’ll solve Spelling Bee for you.)
My takeaway from the presentation is shaped by my many years as a reference worker at Toronto Public Library. As Google evolved from a “gopher” to a genuine search engine, librarians found that folks coming in for reference help had already used the internet to complete their first round of research. So, if someone was researching, say, Margaret Atwood, they already had her biography and several critical essays in their bibliographies. Librarians were increasingly forced to play catch-up to the customers, coming in mid-research (the in-depth level, as we’d say) rather than at a common starting point. Not a bad thing, but it did transform the way that we provided library service.
Braveen’s presentation makes me think that writers will similarly use AI for their first drafts, building and creating new material from a base generated by a program. I suspect editors, just like librarians, will find themselves explaining that “because the computer said so” doesn’t make something correct, grammatically or factually.
I also noted (going back to my VHS versus Betamax throwback reference) that Braveen recommended Raycast as his preferred AI. It’s worth noting that Raycast is only available for Mac products. So, while AI is evolving all the time, we’re still very much in the early days—AI isn’t “there” yet. Braveen’s presentation has left me excited to see what’s next.
Jackie Goutor is a library worker, writer, and newbie freelance editor celebrating her one-year biz launch anniversary. She spends too much time online and is okay with it.
This article was copy edited by Cale Unitas Macke, a freelance copy editor based out of San Diego, California, who loves to be whisked away by the wonderful world of words.
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