AI was undeniably one of the biggest topics of 2023. From the launch of ChatGPT, it seems every software company has been working on their own innovation when it comes to integrating Artificial Intelligence. In a matter of months, what was once thought of as a distant future possibility is now firmly our reality. As a Writer, I have had frequent conversations on the topic, typically revolving around one question: Am I scared? The answer is yes. Although not for the reasons you might think.

I don’t believe AI in its current form can threaten to replace the quality of written work I produce, but I’d probably be foolish to think that day isn’t just around the corner. For now, I sit comfortably knowing what I offer clients that AI doesn’t: Innovation, experience, and a genuine human connection. I know my customer service and communication skills are top tier and, at least for the moment, that is something that technology has not been able to successfully replicate.

No matter how proud I what I offer as a Writer, it does not change the ever-growing power of AI. I don’t expect it to be long before AI can produce written pieces as shockingly beautiful and detailed as the artwork already being created by bots such as Dall-E. Having followed last year’s WGA strikes closely, it only became more and more evident how large of a risk AI poses to Writers everywhere; it took one of the most powerful Writers’ Unions in the world 148 days to come to an agreement with the studios in order to protect their members.

As a freelancer, I don’t have the same protection as a union member and am left potentially more vulnerable to job loss as a result of AI. That leaves me with two choices: to turn away and ignore this growing threat to my business, or, to embrace it. I chose the latter.

I’ve spent the last 6 months experimenting with the capabilities of AI, learning its use cases, and adapting my process to include this powerful tool. My intention was to learn how to use AI to my advantage, to level up my work, and to increase my efficiency.

Here’s how I incorporate AI from start to finish in my creative process to stay one step ahead.

How to Use AI as a Freelance Writer

Research

One of the biggest blockers I face as a Writer is finding details on very specific situations or people. Particularly when ghostwriting, I can transport from a piece set in 1940s Peru to a current-day Renaissance Faire to the streets of Victorian London all in a matter of days. Each project requires a level of detail and research that can prove both particular and almost impossible to accurately find. As a result, I have found AI to serve as a powerful and highly efficient research tool. Its ability to navigate and process massive amounts of information, coupled with its capacity for pattern recognition, positions it as a valuable ally for Writers.

Instead of scouring the internet for papers on the inner workings of a 1960s Nitrate Filtration Plant, I can simply ask a chatbot for the information required. Of course, it is important to caveat that AI can, and often does, get it wrong. This research is not peer-reviewed and can’t be assumed to be 100% accurate, however, for getting me in the general field of correct information I find AI to be exceptionally useful. I would not rely on it for a key piece of fundamental truth for a project, but to inform me on costume, architecture, language, or other such pieces of information, AI is by far the superior research method.

Concept Generation

Depending on your writing niche, you may be required to be constantly creating new ideas for things like blog posts and social media. Although you’re more than capable of doing this, there’s no denying that it is a time-consuming task, particularly on those days when the ideas just aren’t flowing. That’s where AI comes in. By carefully tailoring your prompts you can immediately produce an endless stream of concepts for any project.

An example is this blog, although I have post ideas pop into my head at all hours of the day (and night), consistently producing 3x posts a week can lead to concept dry spells. At the start of each month, when I sit down to content prep I use ChatGTP as my tool for Concept Generation. Here’s an example of a prompt I might use:

‘You are a freelancer writer and expert on the topic of Digital Nomads. Your blog niche is remote working in Tokyo, Japan. Produce 10 search engine optimized blog post titles on this topic that would appeal to remote workers wanting to spend time in Japan.’

From this, I would likely get around 5 usable post ideas that work as a basis for my own twist on the subject. The more specific you are with the chatbot, the better the response is going to be.

Outlining

Once you have a concept in mind, AI can step in once again as a valuable support. Tools like ChatGPT can be used to develop initial outlines for any project simply by asking ‘Create 5 bullet points on the subject of…’. This technique, for me, is more of a jumping-off point than a fully functional outline, however, it is probably one of the most efficient usages of AI. This is because my biggest ‘time waster’ tends to be the blank page. We all know it. When you’re starting a new piece or project, type the title, and then stare aimlessly at the bright white screen in front of you waiting for inspiration to hit. I’ve been doing this for years, and that feeling still hangs around.

I’ve developed several methods for working through the feeling, and one of them is implementing an initial AI Outline step. It is a part of my process to type my title, get an outline, and then copy-paste it into my document so the blank white page is gone. From here, I chop and change the outline until it usually looks nothing like the source response. It might sound redundant, but I promise it is a far more efficient process than without this step!

It’s also worth noting the use case of outlining for the less creative tasks such as crafting an Upwork Proposal or email cover letter. Using AI to tailor the first draft of these necessities is again a huge time saver so that you can save your creative flow for the commissioned work, not the accompanying documents.

Search Engine Optimization

As any Freelancer will tell you, producing high-quality work is only half the battle! In a 2024 landscape, it is just as important to know how to sell yourself online and be found by your potential clients. You can read more about that here in my post about Gaining Clients as a Freelancer. Part of building an online presence is learning basic SEO principles in order to increase your visibility. The better you implement SEO, the more people (and possible clients) are going to see your work. I use several AI tools to achieve this

The first is an AI-powered SEO Blog Title generator that produces multiple options using your keywords to help your posts better appeal to Google’s algorithm.

Another chief component of SEO is using metadata to input your keywords and add an additional boost to posts and web pages. This can be a tedious task but is easily outsourced to AI to create perfectly optimized metadata in a matter of seconds.

A final tip is to incorporate AI into your content planning through trend spotting. This might be on your own website using Google Analytics, or an assessment of the market to find new topic clusters to cover in your content. Grammarly is a great tool that offers this service on top of countless others in the premium version.

What Happens Next?

Before starting my experimentation with AI, I had several concerns surrounding the ethics of the technology. Some of those have subsided, but others remain, principally the long-term effect on the job market. Already we are witnessing unemployment as a result of AI replacing lower-level jobs and without a clear economic plan to target this, I do worry about the potential long-term pay disparity and poverty that could be on the horizon. As a freelancer myself, I also cannot help but shudder at the continuous use of stolen art. As with most things, I believe we should be treating this new technology with an active mind. Nothing is for free, and as I am using AI, the AI companies are equally using me for my data in return.

What are your thoughts on the integration of AI into the writing process? I’d love to know where you stand in this ever-changing landscape of technology and creativity combined.