Adapting to AI — A Guide for Freelance Writers (with some of my best prompts)

Suddenly, writing doesn’t feel like writing anymore.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the day that I tried ChatGPT for the first time. It was spooky. And scary. Like all the worst dystopian sci-fi fantasies coming to life before my very eyes.

I don’t think I’m overstating the existential horror I felt that day.

And that was at least quadrupled on the day that OpenAI released GPT-4. For the first time, I was seeing a machine write content that at least matched mine on a bad day, if not surpassing it. Gulp…

(Don’t worry — it gets more optimistic, so keep reading!!)

Uh Oh. Where did that come from?

Despite my 8-year experience as a tech content and B2B writer, I was pretty much blindsided by AI.

Over those years, I had established a steady writing process that worked well —client research, market research, general research, draft, revise, finalize. Happy clients. Happy times.

Then, last year, I experimented with the AI writing tool, Jasper (known then as Jarvis). Its results seemed underwhelming, so I thought, ‘no threat here’. I was content that AI couldn’t match human writing ability. Maybe I should have seen it coming.

Back to working merrily away for the next 10 years…

How wrong I was.

Socks. Blown. Off.

Fast forward to the beginning of this year and ChatGPT near enough blew me away, especially when I tried the GPT-4 model. My reaction — “Wow. My days as a writer are numbered”.

That was nearly 6 months ago. How do I feel now?

Well, there’s definitely no going back to the old way of doing things. Not unless the genie somehow miraculously ends up back in the bottle or serious regulation is put in place — which I don’t think will happen anytime soon.

So where does that leave us writers?

Adapt To Survive

We need to adapt. It’s a cliche, but survival isn’t about who stays fittest — it’s about who is most adaptable to change.

The role of the writer is changing — nay — already has changed. Things will never be the same again.

But it’s not all bad.

New tech = new opportunities.

Us writers need to learn to coexist with AI.

That’s why I’ve spent much of the past 6 months refining a new way of working. Thinking of ways to creatively use ChatGPT. Writing prompts that get the best results. Playing around and tinkering with this scary, exciting new technology.

In this blog, I’m sharing all: workflows, top prompts, thoughts, and observations.

Why?

I’ve found that when you give to the world, it reciprocates.

The Changing Role of The Writer

Let’s think about what writing is for a moment.

Writing is putting thoughts, ideas, thoughts, scenarios, or feelings into words, then putting them down on the page.

However, different types of writing serve different purposes, and the effect of AI differs depending on the type.

Here’s my take on the four main types of writing I do on a daily basis and how much value AI tools like ChatGPT can add to them (or not as the case may be):

• Journaling — I keep a personal journal every day. The purpose of this writing is to help me regulate my mood, reflect on events, and develop myself as a person. It’s all about sorting through my thoughts and feelings. I don’t want to automate any of this with AI and I can’t see any benefit in doing so. In fact, it would completely defeat the object. Plus, I tend to go old-school and hand write my journal, unless I’m really pressed for time.

Added AI Value — None.

• Tech Content — The tech content I write for clients is all about communicating ideas, concepts, and information about their products or services. Some of this is automatable, but not all. Most tech content is objective — it’s factual and informative. AI can help a lot in this area — brainstorming ideas, market research, outlining, writing sections of content, critiquing, and revising content. A human touch is still needed however to direct the AI and edit the results into optimal content.

Added AI Value — Fairly High.

• Blogging — Blog posts, like this one, are even less automatable in my opinion. Here, I’m expressing opinions, fresh ideas (or at least I like to think so), as well as a mixture of thoughts and feelings. It’s much more subjective, both in the way it’s written and the way it’s received. I think blog writers who use AI too much will lose readers. People will be put off by the stilted, robotic style of AI writing. But it does have its uses — brainstorming ideas, tidying up clunky sections, research into new topics, and critiquing, to name a few.

Added AI Value — Moderate.

• Creative Writing — Creative fiction writing is a different kettle of fish altogether. I write children’s fiction as a side-hustle and passion project. If you’ve tried using ChatGPT to write fiction or poetry, you’ll notice that it’s pretty terrible. It’s cliched, lacks originality, and has little in the way of humanity. I wrote my first book before ChatGPT was on the scene. For my second book, I’m using it, but only for the occasional bit of research and to tidy up the grammar and flow in places. Even for the grammar editing, I only use ChatGPT sparingly (when I’m really stuck on getting a good flow in a certain section) as it usually tends to remove some of the sparkle from the writing.

Added AI Value — Low.

Identifying AI Content

It’s pretty easy to tell whether a piece of subjective writing like this blog post has been churned out entirely with AI or is mostly an original piece of writing.

Usually, AI lacks humanity and creativity. Will that change? I’ve misjudged AI before, so I hesitate to guess. I suspect it won’t match human emotional depth and creativity, but perhaps I’m wrong.

Certainly, ChatGPT as it stands — a kind of uber-effective predictive text generator — is nowhere near as good as a skilled human writer when it comes to creative writing. Churning out SEO tech content — yes, it might even outperform many human writers — but not all.

For these reasons, I’m shifting my focus to blogging and creative writing, areas I believe AI won’t replace in the near future.

So, the new role of a content writer is to use your own intuition, creativity, and humanity to come up with ideas, and leverage ChatGPT as a valuable assistant wherever possible.

ChatGPT Prompts for Different Writing Tasks

Over the next few months, I’ll be writing more and more about how writers can use ChatGPT to up their game and carve out a following or loyal client base.

I’m hoping to prove that there is scope for tech writers to transition to more personal blogging. To do that — I’m staking my reputation on the success of this blog!

I’ll post my monthly results here on Medium for all to see.

For now though, I’m going to leave you with a few of the most useful prompts I’ve come up with over the past few months. Hope they help!

Create a virtual AI assistant to brainstorm blog ideas:

• I want you to go into a mode called BLOG IDEA MASTER. In this mode you will begin each response with the word IDEA: While in this mode you will be a creative genius. You will help to brainstorm ideas for blog posts that will appeal to the target market. You will come up with engaging topics that bring in hot trends, tangential ideas, and things that the target market will be interested in. You will be creative and think outside the box to create imaginative titles that will both inform readers and pique their curiosity. Respond to this with “I understand your blog needs.” then await further instructions.

Market Research — Create a target profile or avatar

• I want to create a target avatar for XXX. First list out the main job roles of people that will be looking for that service or product, but no more than XXX. Then, using Myers-Briggs, Big Five Personality Traits, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and Social Identity Theory, create a profile for them and write it out. Then, list out their main fears and hopes related to the main product, service, or topic. Then, create a target avatar for that person.

Editing — General prompts to improve grammar and readability

• Write the following section of text in language that can be understood by an average 15 year old, but without using the idiom typical of a person that age:
• Improve the grammar and flow of this section of text, but retain a human feel to it:
• Edit the section of text below. Write it in an informative, professional, but clearly communicated way. Aim for a Flesch score of around 60 to 65. Use a clear and straightforward writing style. Use simple language and concise sentences to make the text easily understandable. Make the paragraphs well-structured, and transitions flow smoothly. Make the tone approachable, without being too informal. Create a connection with the reader without it being too friendly. Prioritize readability and aim to make the content accessible to a typical college level reader.

– (N.B. this last one is great for tech content writing)

Keep Calm and Carry On Writing

With all the doom-mongering about AI out there, it can be tempting to give in to despair.

I say, don’t worry, but do take action.

Just do whatever you can to improve your skills, develop more creativity, and use AI as the powerful assistive tool that it is.

Oh, and ignore the hype. AI isn’t going to cause the end of the world just yet — and even if it is, there’s nothing that humble old you or I can do about it anyways!

And just one more thing — don’t be tempted to replace all of your writing with AI.

I think that good ol’, human-produced writing is going to stand out more than ever in the brave new world that’s going to unfold over the next few years and decades.

I’ll be sharing my thoughts, ideas, best practices, and prompts over the next few months, so if you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to clap. Oh, and hit the follow button too if you want more!

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