Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) Really Help Me to Become a Better Writer?
AI writing tools suggest that they can make us even better at creating well-structured and written content but is it enough?
Writing isn’t something I consider myself to struggle with. I’ve published over 65 articles on medium and many more on a personal blog. However, I can struggle with making sentences clear or articulating ideas in a way that reads well. The biggest hurdle in writing for me is when it comes to spelling, grammar or reading my work back.
I believe I have undiagnosed dyslexia. When I write, I struggle to spell words as I’m unable to sound them out (Phonetic spelling if you’re feeling fancy), and when rereading my work, I have a habit of not reading what I see. I tend to add in extra words that aren’t there or miss out on phrases completely. This used to cause major issues when I was in primary school, as teachers and parents thought I was lazy or not committing myself to learning.
And I’m not alone in facing challenges when writing. I’ve had people reach out to me to ask how I know how to structure my articles or form my thoughts, and I think on the surface, it can look like I’ve always been able to write, but it’s taken practice and a lot of bad writing up until now to get here. However, I would be naive to think that digital tools and software aren’t also to thank for my improvement in writing.
Grammarly: More than a spell checker
One tool that has helped me improve my writing is Grammarly.
For those unfamiliar with Grammarly, Grammarly is a ‘typing assistant that reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes in English language text…It uses artificial intelligence to identify and search for an appropriate replacement for the located error.’ Wikipedia
Not only does Grammarly help me with my spelling, but it also helps me with sentences that aren’t clear or writing that could be improved with alternative words. I’ve used Grammarly for the past two and half years and truly believe I’ve naturally improved at writing because of it. I’m sure there are studies suggesting that our spelling capabilities have decreased since we rely on computers to spell-check what we write. However, I have learnt where I make common mistakes in writing, such as missing out on commas or using the incorrect tense.
Initially, I didn’t realise that Grammarly would be considered an AI tool. I thought Grammarly was a fancy spell checker. However, the more I’ve started exploring AI and how it can help people become more creative or perhaps make fewer mistakes, the more interested I am in its use for good— especially when people may be faced with learning disabilities.
In this post, I will explore how AI can help people write better and what AI can’t do for writers.
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how it works?
Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that creates intelligent machines that can work and react like humans. AI has been around for centuries in one form or another, but it was not until the 1950s that it really began to take off. Since then, AI has made great strides, and its capabilities have increased exponentially. Today, AI is used in a variety of fields, including healthcare, finance, and manufacturing. And now, it is beginning to be used more and more in the field of writing.
The above section, ‘What is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it works?’ was actually written by Moonbeam, a writing tool that uses AI to help people ‘become 2x better at writing in 10 Minutes’. And to be honest, I’m quite impressed. That said, I still need to add more detail about what AI really is.
In general, AI systems work by being fed large amounts of data to help train them. Through this training, they then analyse the data to look for patterns. These patterns are then used to predict what could be next in the sequence. For example, Grammarly has probably been fed lots of data on good writing with perfect grammar, style and spelling. The tool would then be able to check written text for mistakes and even suggest alternative words that aren’t so common to make the text sound even more interesting.
The Potential of AI to Make Writing Easier and More Efficient
The use of AI can make writing easier and more efficient in several ways, especially for those who might find writing a struggle. As already mentioned, AI can help people identify errors in their writing and suggest corrections. This can be a time-saver, as editing and proofing can happen as you go rather than rereading the text multiple times and the end. For those with difficulty spelling, having live feedback can really help.
One of the most interesting potentials for me is using AI to help people create outlines, structure paragraphs, and organize ideas. As already mentioned, I’ve had people reach out and ask me how I go about writing my articles, and I believe the biggest hurdle for people is knowing how to structure their ideas in a format that makes sense. This type of AI, especially Moonbeam’s editor, could help people who find it difficult to get their thoughts out in a way that suits an extended piece of writing.
[What’s next is moonbeam’s suggestion, but I can't entirely agree as it is no longer your writing, it’s all produced by a machine] Finally, AI can automatically generate content based on specified parameters. This can be helpful for people who need to produce a lot of content quickly.
The Potential for AI to Revolutionise the Writing Process
I feel that if more people embraced AI it would have the potential to allow more people to take part in writing and sharing their ideas in long form. Many people don’t consider themselves to be a writer or they face barriers like Dyslexia, where it’s too difficult to communicate their ideas through writing. Though there is space for an interesting revolution in writing using AI, there is still a long way to go for AI tools to become intelligent enough and personalised enough to really embody our own personal styles of writing. Still, perhaps we don’t really want AI writing tools to go that way anyway. Perhaps AI writing tools are there to help us get started and overcome the biggest hurdles around structure and spelling rather than writing articles for us.
What AI Writing Tools Won’t Do For Your Writing
While thinking about this article and reviewing the type of text that moonbeam has presented, there seems to be a huge gap in this automatic text generation. AI can’t produce those real lived experiences. For example, the text that moonbeam produced for me was incredibly flat. There were no personal stories, anecdotes, or tales that make engaging stories. Great communication and articles that spark our curiosity have really clear and strong opinions, which is lacking at the moment in the artificially generated text. Yes, the content may be structurally sound and spelt correctly, but it’s missing a huge part that makes writing so great: personality.
For now, I will continue to use moonbeam and Grammarly to help me generate the titles or structure for my text, but I believe the actual content can only come from me. Without sharing my experience and opinions, I lose the purpose of writing in the first place.
Have you used any AI tools before to improve your writing? How have you found them? Do you think AI writing tools like moonbeam is something you’d try? Let me know!
Fancy a chat?
If you have any questions or want to talk? Drop me a comment or send me a tweet at @lizhamburger
