The art of editing in the age of AI: Adding the human touch to GenAI outputs

As AI-generated copy becomes the new norm, the art of editing has never been more crucial. Generative AI tools can draft a thousand words in a minute, but the human touch is what turns this raw material into clear, impactful messages. Whether you’re refining an AI-generated report or polishing a key presentation, your editing skills ensure that the final output is coherent and compelling. 

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Generative AI quickly transforms productivity and efficiency across industries, revolutionising productivity in ways we’re only beginning to explore. A whopping 52% of business leaders use AI content-generation tools, which opens up a whole world of possibilities if you know how to use it.

But as with every technological leap, there are risks we must keep in mind. Without human oversight, overuse or misuse can leave us blindly following artificial intelligence. 5.5% of Stanford University students admitted to submitting assignments generated by ChatGPT without any personal input.

In this video, Ryan Millar will show you why editing is your key to clear, credible, and captivating communication and how, no matter what you're writing, with proper editing, you can make sure your message hits home every single time. 

How to edit AI-generated content

The challenges and limitations of AI-generated content  

AI-generated copy often lacks creativity and originality, as it depends on pre-existing data and patterns. This leads to predictable and often uninspiring outputs. It also faces difficulties with context, missing subtle cultural and social cues essential for engaging material. It may unintentionally perpetuate biases embedded in its training data, raising ethical concerns.

Moreover, search engines don't like AI-generated content. For example, in February 2023, Google released an updated set of guidelines that emphasise "helpful content written by people, for people.”  

Consider AI content as a block of marble: The tool provides the raw material, but the human touch turns it into a piece of art.

Step 0: Fact-checking

Since AI writing tools don't understand the text they produce, they can't fact-check it either. This could lead to plagiarism and hallucinations, leaving you with potentially inaccurate, inappropriate, or irrelevant content.

It's easy to skim over general claims or statements if you're biased towards them. Be sure they're supported by credible sources and consistent with other information. 

Pay extra attention to:

• Figures, data points, and statistics
• Names of people, places, titles, etc.
• Biases
• Recent or current event-related content 

Tip! you can use Google Fact Check Tools to help you with this.

Step 1: Idea

Before diving into edits, defining your copy's purpose and clarifying the core message is crucial.

Ask yourself:

• What should the audience take away from this?
• What do you want your audience to learn or do after reading your content?

Take the time to review the information to understand its context and the purpose for which it was generated. Every part of your content should reinforce this core message.

Step 2: Format & Structure

• Analyse the piece's organisation. A well-structured text leads the reader through the points logically.
• Fill in content gaps and missing information for completeness.
• Smooth out awkward transitions to improve the movement from one section to the next.

Step 3: Style & Voice

The text's voice should match the writer, the message, and the audience. It's all about striking the right emotional chord.

• Tone of voice adjustment: Who are you writing for? What are their interests and needs? Tailor the tone to speak directly to your audience's needs and expectations.
  • Make sure the content is in line with your brand voice and values. 
  • Address the reader directly with second-person pronouns like “you” and “your.”
  • Acknowledge your audience's challenges and struggles.
• Add the human touch: A genuinely engaging, rounded, natural-sounding text will reflect your unique perspective based on your knowledge and experiences. 
  
  • Include real-life examples and real-life illustrations along with your thoughts and experiences in your writing.
  • Incorporate 'on brand’ words or phrases, industry jokes, quotes from colleagues or peers, or other personal touches.  
  • Instead of just providing facts and statistics, use emotional language incorporating feelings.

Here's a cautionary tale to show you what can happen if you don't consider tone and context in your communication:

In 2017, Adidas emailed everyone who ran the Boston Marathon with the headline “Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!” Now, you may remember that in 2013, just four years earlier, multiple bombs exploded at the finish line, killing three people and injuring 180. 

Adidas apologised hours later, but the tone and content were completely different now. It was an embarrassing and public response to something targeted and strategic.

Step 4: Pace

It's no secret that AI-generated copywriting often comes across as monotonous or choppy. It tends to overuse simple words such as ‘it’ and ‘the’ and prefers short sentences that don’t always flow.

• Introduce new concepts or ideas at the right pace so the reader can comprehend each point but not so much that they lose interest.
  Remove repetition of words or phrases.
• Remove repetition of words or phrases.
• Make use of both short and long sentences to create a dynamic pace.
• Make sure the reader is guided through the narrative or argument in a logical, compelling way.

Step 5: Grammar and Readability

Content produced by a machine is not guaranteed to be error-free. CNET found errors in 41 of the 77 AI-written stories it published - that’s more than half.

Some of the most common errors to watch are:

• Subject-verb agreement
• Misspellings (including homophones)
• Missing commas
• Phrases that are unclear or illogical
• Fragmented sentences and paragraphs

After you've made your edits, read the text out loud. This helps to catch any lingering issues and to ensure the edited content flows naturally.

Using AI to edit AI

The editing world wasn't left behind by the wave of newly available AI-based tools. 
These tools can suggest edits, correct grammar, and improve clarity when used appropriately.

Play around with them to see what works for you, but don’t forget, “Keep an open mind - but not so open that your brains fall out.”

AI-Assisted editing tools

Grammarly: An AI-powered writing assistant that helps with grammar checks, style, tone, and clarity.
Hemingway: A writing tool that suggests ways to simplify and clarify your sentences so they’re easier to understand
Jasper: While primarily a content creation tool, Jasper also offers features to rephrase and refine existing content.
WordTune: A great AI tool that re-words and restructures sentences for better flow or tone of voice.

Editing with ChatGPT

Here are some tips for getting the best results from ChatGPT:

Be specific: Tell ChatGPT exactly what you need help with, including the exact sentences or paragraphs.
Ask for alternatives: Instead of just asking for corrections, ask ChatGPT for alternative suggestions. This can help you explore different writing styles and improve your writing.

Test out different prompts: Don't be afraid to try different prompts to tackle different aspects of your writing. You'll get a better critique that way.
Refine the AI’s responses: Take ChatGPT's feedback as a starting point and refine it based on your writing style and preferences.

And most importantly,
Make sure you evaluate suggestions critically: While ChatGPT can be a valuable tool, it’s essential to manually proofread your writing as well. As we said, relying solely on AI may overlook certain nuances or context-specific requirements.

Find the full checklist, the content editing exercise and 30 great prompts for content editing with ChatGPT in the editor’s toolkit we created

Click here to download a copy

Let's practice!

Use the provided editor's toolkit to edit a piece of AI-generated content, improving its clarity, coherence, and engagement.

Read through the AI-generated content thoroughly without making any changes. This will give you an overall impression and understanding of the text.

Refer to the editing checklist as you review the content.

Make edits directly to the text, using tracking changes, to ensure all checklist items are addressed.

Use AI tools and ChatGPT prompts to assist with your editing.

Once you’ve made all the necessary changes, compare your edited version with the original to see how the content has improved.

Dive deeper into the topic

  "How to Build a Content Quality Assurance Process": Take your content strategy to the next level and see how you can build an effective, responsive, scalable process from scratch.

 "Can AI-Generated Content Hurt Your Search Ranking?": Find out how to edit AI-generated SEO content to make it effective.

ChatGPT Creative Writing Coach: Do you have a ChatGPT Plus subscription? As part of the most recent update, OpenAI introduced the "Creative Writing Coach", a specialised version of the ChatGPT model tailored to assist users with their creative writing. It provides practical and motivating feedback, suggestions, and constructive criticism to help users refine prose, poetry, or any other form of creative writing.

Wrapping things up

• The human touch in AI content: AI can generate a ton of text, and it can do it fast, but it lacks the nuance and creativity of human editing. Your role in refining this content is crucial for clarity, engagement, and authenticity.
• Steps in editing: Remember the five-step editing process - fact-checking, idea, format and structure, style and voice, and grammar and readability. Every step is important to turning AI-generated text into polished, effective content.
  
• Using AI to edit AI: Embrace AI tools like Grammarly, Hemingway, Jasper, and WordTune. They're extremely helpful for streamlining the editing process but require your critical input to ensure quality.