The power of AI is rising everywhere. More and more, you see services popping up which will help you write code, content, understand code, and so much more.
Last week I woke up and asked myself if an AI would already write the content I wanted. I was already sure it could write content, but I was unsure if it would be able to write it the way I would like it to be written.
The article
The article I wrote by using these services is one about the features and benefits of Front Matter CMS.
Info
The article contains 90% of the content that AI services provided me and 10% of the content I wrote or adapted myself.
I hope you will read the article and let me know what you think. Would you have guessed that an AI wrote it?
How I got started
First, I picked a topic that would make sense for an AI to write. Writing about features and benefits of a product/tool/… is something generic. Suppose I would write an article about a specific feature or technology. In that case, I am sure I would not get a similar outcome.
The services
With a topic in mind, I started my research to look for the services I could use. There are a lot out there, but the ones that convinced me were the following:
- GitHub Copilot: Sure, it is for code, but it can also help your write content.
- Peppertype.ai: It is a service that helps you create various types of content or rewrite content.
- Rytr: Similar to Peppertype.ai, but it is more writer focussed.
Using the services
Article outline
Peppertype.ai and Rytr allow you to generate an outline for the blog you want to write. This feature is just a great way to get started. All I had to do was tell the service what I wanted to write, and I just filled in the article title and let the service come up with the outline.
For the article, I used a combination of Peppertype.ai, Rytr, and the sections I wanted to include.
PROOutlining the article by an AI is a pretty easy way to get you started. If you need inspiration, let an AI do the work for you.
Writing the content
When you have the outline, you can use the service to write the content for the sections. Here is where it became tricky. To let the AI write good content, you need to provide it with enough details and keywords to understand what content you want to get in return.
It would have been easier to write the content myself in some cases, but that was not part of the test I was performing.
Sometimes the AI is a bit opinionated, so you need to do some trial and error. It also happens that it provides some other product suggestions, so you cannot just copy and paste. You need to read as well and adapt.
Rewriting
After I made the services write the content, I combined it all in one Markdown file and started reading and rewriting. GitHub Copilot was a great assistant. Although it is meant to help you write code, the content suggestions it provides are, in some cases, straight on—bonus points for GitHub Copilot.
FunnyAlso watch out for typos coming from the AI. Maybe they do this on purpose to make it seem like it was a human that wrote it.
Conclusion
Well, it can be an excellent tool to make your life easier. For instance, when you find yourself spending too much time trying to come up with content, outlines, or even titles for your article. An AI can give you some inspiration.
Can an AI write your content? Yes, I am sure that it can already do this. The samples I received were persuasive. By just providing the right amount of information, you can get good articles. When you start paying for services, you can push more content in and get more in return. For my article, I was bound to the free services.
Will I let an AI write my content? No, I still want to control the words I write and because I like to write my content. For sure, I will try it again in a couple of months to see how this AI landscape is progressing.