The AI shenanigans that I'm not into

...and what I learned from it.

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I spent the weekend washing siding and staining the deck and am so happy that it’s done for the summer! After sending this out and doing a bit of other writing, I’m headed out to a long overdue massage. What have you been up to???

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When I tell people I’m a freelance writer, the first question I usually get is about how AI affected my job — after I explain what freelance writing actually is, of course. My answer is typically that it has definitely changed the game, but not in the way that I thought it would.

Remember back a few years when ChatGPT and a host of other AI models launched, and freelance writing dissolved into chaos?

Will AI take our jobs?

Who’s going to hire us when AI can write articles in seconds?

Who do these robots think they are anyway???

It seemed like every other day I saw a writer who said they lost a client to AI. I’m not prone to panic, but I was definitely holding my breath a bit to see how everything played out.

Well, freelance writing didn’t collapse in a heap. We’re still here writing our little hearts out, but things have changed.

Photo by Ales Nesetril on Unsplash

Here’s my best example, and the one I give to people who don’t know what freelance writing is despite my best efforts to explain it:

What I think AI has really done is help people understand how much we want to connect with other humans. AI has absolutely changed the freelance writing landscape, and I actually just lost a long-time publication that is now going full-AI, but for the most part, I think it’s changed it for the better.

When I started writing for Apartment Therapy back in 2020-ish, I wrote a lot of explainers. I loved writing them. They were fun to research and typically easy to write. Now, however, the AI summary can answer questions like “what is a gingerbread house?” It pulls from existing content, so now there’s less need for other publications to write these articles and try to rank for them.

Now, the types of articles that Apartment Therapy publishes focus much more on first-person stories. I got to write one about the wood block method for household systems and about my Chirp Contour massage table. Both of them were so much fun to write!

AI is giving writers a chance to write from their experience, which opens up a whole new world of ideas and pitches. I just wrote about flossing, for heaven’s sake!

Ok, so that’s what I’m into when it comes to AI.

Now, for what I’m not into.

When people use AI as a stand-in for their own answers

Here’s some backstory. I’m writing an article and needed expert insights, so I emailed questions to two experts through their PR reps. I got the answers from the first expert back. They were a little generic, but so far so good. No huge red flags that it was AI-generated, and I specifically asked for it not to be AI-generated, so I was all set.

Then…I got the answers from the second expert. As I read through them, they sounded eerily similar to the first expert’s. There were differences, but they were structured with the same patterns and flow.

Then…I went to ChatGPT, and the answers were also essentially the same. Well, damn.

I emailed my editor with a sample from each source showing the similarities, and she did what I hadn’t thought to do and ran them through an AI checker.

They came back as 100% for being AI-generated. Are you shocked?

So now to what actually bothers me about AI but also where I have some grace.

I don’t think AI should be a stand-in for your own human thoughts. Especially when you’re being tapped as an expert to share your thoughts, specifically. Also, think about how absolutely insane it is to think that just a few years ago, this wasn’t even an option. And now people are outsourcing their thoughts to a computer.

I emailed both PR reps and explained the situation. Both were very understanding and said they would address it with their client.

I know there are a few PR reps that subscribe, and I wish I had a good way to navigate this with your clients, but I’m not really sure how those conversations look. If any of you have figured it out, let me know!!!

Here’s where the grace comes in

As a writer, I work with words every day. I see beautifully written articles by my peers and colleagues. I also see AI-generated articles and social posts. I think about how AI affects the world of media. I talk about it with my husband and friends.

But if I was a doctor, and my primary job was to help patients? Or as in the case of my husband, worked retail and literally talked to human people all day rather than viewed everything through a screen?

I probably wouldn’t be able to spot an AI-written answer. And to be fair, I didn’t spot this one on my own until I got the second set of answers.

I don’t think either expert meant any harm. Because while I’m over here fighting a battle against the bots, they probably see it as a really great tool that can create answers in seconds that they can check, make sure they’re accurate, and send them off.

I hope that the reps and experts involved in this situation take some of my response to heart and choose to write their own answers from now on, but they may not. So, now it’s on me.

Is video the way to go?

After this debacle, my editor requested insights from new experts, and we decided that video would be the way to go.

Was it the most convenient way to do an interview? No. The kids were off of school that day and two were sick, so I left them to the TV and big couch and tucked myself in the bedroom with my laptop propped up on a laundry basket.

But I love video interviews! Email interviews are very convenient, and I have some experts that I’ve built a relationship with through email, but video is so much fun. There’s more connection and back and forth — no surprise there.

Moving forward, I’m going to work a little harder to get video interviews scheduled and run answers through an AI-checker, as well as always mention to the expert that I need gasp human-generated answers.

Have you had this happen? What’s your take on how AI is affecting freelance writing and journalism…or the entire world???

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Happy Tuesday (or whatever day you read this)! Here’s what I’m up to this week, plus a special Prime Day section! I don’t usually have Prime, but I got a 30-day trial this morning and have a few things in my cart already!

Prime Day sales

Before we get into the rest of the coffee chat, I’m sharing some Prime Day sales that landed in my inbox this week. I’m sure you’ve had your share of emails, too, but I won’t get a chance to write about all these — or buy everything — so I wanted to pass them along!

• Chirp: Lots of Chirp products are on sale for Prime Day!

• ALLSWIFT: I just requested a sample of the ALLSWIFT StediCore slip on shoes that I’m really excited about.

• HORISUN Wireless bras: These are 50% off right now with this link!

• As Fairy bras: Also 50% off with this link!

• Oura Ring: Most of their products, including this one, are 30% off or more!

• Dreame: This bladeless tower fan looks really cool and is 38% off.

• Honeydew: The Scrumptious Side Sleeper Pillow is normally $249.99, but it’s on sale for $199.99. I have this and sleep on it every night!

• *I’m an Amazon Affiliate and may make a commission off items purchased through my link

📖Reading

I’m currently reading and ARC of Murder Like Magic (on my Kindle, of course. The one I have is 33% off right now!). I love this one so far! Basically, Tess is a Spinner, someone with an extra sense or power, called a Seven. When a fellow Spinner is murdered and found in a pool of someone else’s blood, Tess puts her extra sense to good use as she investigates the murder.

Some books fascinate me with their ability to stick with me throughout the day. This is one of those books. I know it’s fiction and that the characters aren’t walking around in the world. But while I was staining the deck, I found myself thinking of Tess and “Officer Handsome” and wondering how the investigation was going. I love when characters take on a life of their own.

The writing is interesting, too. It’s told from Tess’s perspective, with interjections of her thoughts as part of the narration rather than as quotes or simply described. I’m not sure how to describe it, but I like it! And it gets bonus points because I love the cover.

💻Working on

The kids are in summer school for one more week, so I’m focused on getting ahead on the rest of my June articles. This week, I’m working on:

• 1 ice maker review for Popular Mechanics (submitted yesterday)

• 1 article for Business Insider

• 1 article for the small business lender

I’m also sending out a few pitches about the hosted stays that I did in May and catching up on emails and revamping my Notion a bit thanks to help from Solene Rauturier!

🤍Loving

I love our deck so much. My big house dream was to have a huge deck, and we definitely got one. My husband and I do morning coffee out there every chance we get, and I’ve been taking my work out there when it’s nice. It’s just the best.

🧠 Thinking

I’m getting excited about the kids being done with summer school. It takes some adjusting on my part for work, but it’s why I do what I do. We already have some fun stuff planned, and I’m really excited for July!

I want to know all of your over coffee things. You can copy and past the list in the comments and add what you’re:

📖Reading

💻Working on

🤍Loving

🧠 Thinking

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