Using AI at Each Step of the Writing Process, Part 1: Overview

Writing has become a lot easier thanks to artificial intelligence. Maybe too easy. Now that I have taught my course Using AI as Your Writing Assistant more once, I have come to realize that it is just one more tool to separate the haves from the have nots. 

In this seven-part series, I will describe how to use and not use AI based on my research, writing, and teaching experiences with this technology. I will cover each step of the writing process to uncover the indisputable benefits and veiled drawbacks of using AI. Throughout this series, I will explain how AI contributed to these posts.

For now, consider how AI is pervasive in the workplace. Recent figures, according to AI, which I believe to be gross understatements, claim:

• 75% of knowledge workers globally use AI at work.
• 21% of all U.S. workers say they do some of their work with AI.
• 74% of content professionals use AI at least weekly.
• 39% of content professionals use AI daily for writing, editing, and creating content.
• 82% of businesses use AI writing tools for content creation in some capacity.
• 61% of employees want AI tools to help them specifically with writing tasks.
• 90% of tech workers are using AI in their job.
• 78% of AI users bring their own AI tools to work without company oversight.

Considering these figures, we need to get on board with using AI to enhance our on-the-job creativity, productivity, and quality. The next posts will show you how.

So What's Really New?

How do we decide what to teach schoolchildren? Why?  How do we know what we teach them works?

Maybe you have sought answers to these questions, as I have. If so, you might want to read my article, "The Educational Philosophy of Quintilian" in Philosophy Now. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (35-95 CE), better known as Quintilian, laid out an educational philosophy two millennia ago that remains profoundly influential to academics and scholars worldwide.

You've heard the expressions "The more things change, the more they stay the same" and "There's nothing new under the sun."  When it comes to education, these maxims are true. Sure, information technology and artificial intelligence may  obscure the fact that we continue to borrow from our ancestors, but only briefly. Read the article and you'll see what I mean.

It Is What You Say! Part 2

In a 2018 WORDS ON THE LINE 14-part series on tone, which I'll summarize here, I showed how you can look at tone from many persepectives. 

A good start is to define tone, which I see as the writer's attitude about the message, the reader, or both. Next, consider the consequences of a bad tone, which can ultimately escalate to losing your job. (I know of instances when it happened.) Then consider the many influences on tone, including those you can control and those you have little control over. Finally, practice ways of checking your tone, which may mean whether to respond at all and when to respond. Coming into play are word choice, salutations, complimentary closings, opening and closing sentences, sometimes apologizing, avoiding negative language,  making your words and not emojis speak for you, and maintaining positive relationships.

It may be true that tone is not about what you say but how you say it, but when it comes to writing, the words we use substitute for our speaking voice. So watch what you write.

It Is What You Say! Part 1

When it comes to speech, you often can take to the bank the adage, "It's not what you say; it's how you say it." We appreciate a beloved friend embracing us while boisterously asking, "How the hell are you?" or blurting even stronger expletives. We don't mind when a trusted advisor renders the harshest of criticisms: "You walked into that one ... You blew it this time ... You look awful." They're looking out for us. We consider those criticisms expressions of love.

Not so with writing. The most well-intentioned feedback by email can appear to the receiver like acerbic, maybe abominable, condemnation. A written message beginning with a dozen specific praises of someone's work performance followed by one minor observation for improvement can seem like a gratuitous attack.

Why does this attitude emerge invariably in writing but less so in speech? Five reasons immediately come to mind:

• Relationship – It's one thing getting a tough message from a respected teammate bit something entirely different getting one from an inconsequential vendor, distant client, argumentative peer, lackadaisical subordinate, or feared manager.
• Context – Once we press send, we should realize that our reader is not in the same place—both physically and emotionally—as we are. Our fast-paced environment might affect our tone; their quiet, isolated environment might affect theirs. We might be in a positive mood; they might be in a negative one. 
• Visualization – We cannot see the person's facial expression as they deliver the criticism. We miss their slight smile of empathy, their lowered tone for gravity, their direct eye contact of supportiveness. 
• Time – Someone says something to us and it's one and done. But the passage of time will help us see the tone of a written message in varied ways as we develop. That direct approach might soften or harden, depending on our perspective. That email we orginally interpreted as sweet may within a day or two seem soured by cynicism or sarcasm. One thing for sure: while spoken words may be forgotten, written ones will always be there as a reminder of the hurt.
• Interpretation – Most importantly, words connote different things to different people. I have gotten into trouble with people for using the nouns convert and situation, words whose negative connotation escapes me. Go figure. I consistently tell people in my writing classes that whether we like it or not, meaning comes from the reader, not the writer.

Why does striking the appropriate tone matter? To be continued ...