Last week I wrote about how I use AI for writing. This week I’d like to share some detailed tips and prompts that have worked for me and other writers.
The number one piece of advice I have for writers working with AI chatbots is to treat them like interns or research assistants you are giving assignments to.
In other words, don’t expect the AI to do the work for you — certainly not at the same level that you do. Treat it as a helper and collaborator. Give it clear instructions, and know that you will have to revise, correct, and improve much of what it does for you.
It helps to think of AI as a colleague that is pretty clever and has access to an unbelievably large quantity of source material, but which is utterly lacking in common sense or any notion of originality.
You know that coworker who is kind of a know-it-all and also a bit of a bullshit artist? The one who will make up answers and pretend to know things even if they don’t? That’s your chatbot coworker.
If you understand these limitations and can work around them, AI chatbots can be powerful collaborators.
Important note: If you’re writing for clients or publications, make sure they know you are using AI in your writing process. Some clients won’t care; others will have policies against AI use that you need to respect. Some publications, like The Hill and Entrepreneur, now have policies against AI content, while others like Harvard Business Review, require disclosures of any AI use.
Tip 1: Give the chatbot a clear, detailed assignment
Whether you’re using the chatbot for research or help with writing, put as much specificity into the prompt as you can.
You may not need to create a detailed assignment brief, but it wouldn’t hurt. The pointers I shared on how to start a writing project with a team are equally valid when your “team” is you plus a chatbot.
As with an assignment brief, it’s useful if your prompt includes a few specifics:
- A working title
- A short description of the content you’d like to create — just a sentence or two describing the idea is enough, or a full abstract if you’ve got that.
- The purpose for which you’re writing this piece. What’s the goal you hope to accomplish?
- The target word count you’re aiming for
- The target publication, and/or any details on the audience that you’re hoping to reach
- Any notes on the tone or style you’re hoping for (formal or casual, technical or general-interest, use of “I, we, you, they” pronouns)
- Any supporting notes and resources, such as transcripts, white papers, blog posts, or news story links.
- You can also list any stats or data points you’d like the story to include.
Tip 2: Revise your prompt iteratively
If you don’t get what you want, revise your prompt and try again. Suppose the chatbot delivers something that seems surprisingly articulate, but it’s kind of verbose and not very original (the default mode for both ChatGPT and Claude). Try revising and resubmitting your prompt, adding specific instructions aimed at correcting what went wrong.
Some examples of instructions you might add to your revised prompts:
- Limit your responses to five sentences or less.
- Don’t use more than three sentences in each paragraph.
- Vary sentence and paragraph length to provide variety and musicality to the writing.
- Use direct, conversational language, with short sentences and varied sentence structures.
- Eliminate fluff from your response. Get right to the point.
- Avoid jargon in your response.
- Avoid the following words: delve, showcasing, underscore, comprehensive, crucial, intricate, pivotal. (These are 7 words that suggest a text was written with AI. I would add a few others to that list: transformative, ensure, critical.)
- Provide examples, preferably with a human dimension, in order to give your writing a more emotional, relatable aspect.
- Provide sources for each argument, with links.
Tip 3: Use the AI as a debate partner
You can use AI to preview objections to what you’ve written, so you can strengthen your arguments. Try this prompt: