Unless you’ve been hiding behind a rock, you won’t be able to get away from AI which seems to have suddenly exploded and is everywhere.  If these two little letters with huge implications, make you sparkle with excitement then you’re probably already finding ways of using the range of AI writing tools available, in your work.  But instead if the term AI, makes you prickle with anxiety then this post is for you.

As an artist and creative, the subject of AI might be overwhelming for a number of reasons;

• You don’t know if this is something you even need to be thinking about

• You wouldn’t know where to start

• You worry AI is going to replace humans and take over the world

• You fear the loss of creative control

These fears are completely normal, especially when it comes to understanding how creativity and technology can work together in the creative process.  When you put this together with how fast technology itself is changing and evolving, then I can understand why you just want to stay hidden behind the rock, hoping that if you ignore it for long enough it will go away.

I can say this because I was one of those people who believed all of the dystopian dooms-day hype, until I started using a couple of the AI tools available to me as a writer and was pleasantly surprised at how helpful these were. Because if used correctly, AI can be used not to take over the world but to help support the creative process.

If you want to give it a try, below are some AI writing tools which might be helpful for you on your journey;

OpenAI’s Chat GPT-3 - Content creation; problem-solving; and idea generation.

This tool can be used to create draft content and generate ideas for blogs, vlogs and website copy. But you need to know what it is you are asking for in order to get the right responses from AI, which is very much trial and error and a process of experimentation through commands and questions.   Using Chat GPT is also a very efficient way of getting in-depth information from the web within seconds - its basically Google on speed.

While Chat GPT can write draft content, I don’t think any writer wants to cheat by having AI do our work for us because it’s our creativity that needs a space to live, it’s our creativity that is the main star.   But used simply as a supporting actor, I think Chat GPT is absolutely brilliant especially when I’m struggling with writers block or how to work through a part of my story or problem that is facts-based.  It has cut out so much time for me, its been a godsend.

Grammarly - Grammar; spellcheck; and punctuation improvements. 

This tool helps to improve the style of the overall writing for clarity and coherence. Personally, I won’t be replacing a real-life editor with this tool, but instead will use Grammarly towards the tail end of the process, as a final sense-check before sending my manuscript out to literary agents.

Scrivener - Organises and structures manuscripts.

This a useful tool for authors working on big complex projects such as novels, especially those that require heavy research because it allows you to break down your work into manageable sections, scenes or chapters. It also provides a space for you to store and organise research materials, keeping all relevant information together in one place.

AutoCrit - Editing, manuscript comparison; overall structure and dialogue analysis.

This AI tool is specifically for fiction writers who might be interested to see how their work compares to successful authors in their genre. It also provides insights into areas of improvement and can help ensure your story flows in the most engaging way, with advice on where dialogue could be improved.

Speechify - A text to speech tool which converts written words into audio. 

While it’s not directly a tool for writers, I think it’s helpful to listen to the words you’ve written on the page, as it gives you a different perspective on your writing. If it sounds clunky then its probably going to be clunky on the page too.

To get the most out of these tools the best way to approach AI is to come to it, in the spirit of curiosity and fun and if you don’t like the answers it gives you, ignore it, it’s not the bible.    I would love to know how you get on with AI and also if you are using other tools that you are finding really useful, please do share the love.

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