AI can write…but can it write?

AI, or artificial intelligence, is being spoken about more and more in different contexts. But, how does it actually work?

Quizzes, essays and everything in between

By now, most of us have probably used AI writing tools, like Chat GPT and Jasper - just to name a couple. These tools can take in massive amounts of information and churn out everything from quizzes to academic essays. It’s no surprise their popularity has soared in recent years, with all kinds of industries exploring how they might put them to use.

What can AI do?

When someone asks a question, an AI writing tool jumps into action. It analyses the input and digs through its training data – using fancy things like machine learning and neural networks – to come up with a response. These tools are great at spotting patterns, following rules and generating content based on what they’ve “learned”. They’re especially handy for things like summarising information, drafting reports, writing product descriptions, or churning out straightforward content like news or sports updates.

What can’t AI do?

AI writing tools are trained on huge amount of text pulled from all over the internet – things like websites, news stories, and academic papers. That’s how they “learn” to write. But the quality of what they produce depends heavily on the quality they’ve been fed. The information also needs to be regularly updated, or AI runs the risk of sounding outdated or just plain wrong.

And that’s where we, human writers, still shine. We bring context, insight and creativity that AI can’t replicate. So, while these tools can be helpful, they’re no replacement for the real thing.

AI lacks the human touch – and that matters

AI writing tools can’t replicate human creativity or empathy; this is apparent when reading through its generated content. Language used by these tools can sometimes be cold and rigid which doesn’t suit some forms of writing. By default, we are social creatures who thrive on empathy. We can understand context and use our imagination and creativity as well as connect with readers on a deeper level by using tone. At Aleido, we understand that each of our customers have their own tone of voice that resonates with their audience.

Instead of being wary of AI writing tools, we embrace them and use them to support us in making a start when designing learning – such as generating basic content quickly, summarising large quantities of content or generating assessments from content provided. We can then inject those basic ideas with the creativity, emotional intelligence and human understanding required to produce high-quality content. While AI is highly unlikely to ever replace quality writers, it does have the potential to save time provided that the right AI tools are used, any limitations are recognised and the necessary reviews done.