What are ethical ways to use AI in professional writing?
- Barbara J. Mayfield, MS, RDN, LD, FAND
- 8 hours ago
- 4 min read
Guess what the second edition of Communicating Nutrition: The Authoritative Guide has that was missing from the first edition?
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, was missing. It is not mentioned even once in the first edition. It is almost hard to believe how much AI has become a dominant force in content creation in the five years since the first edition of the book was published.
In the 2nd edition, we are incorporating how to use AI responsibly and ethically for all types of nutrition communication throughout the book. How AI is introduced in Chapter 1 was shared in a previous post.
Today’s discussions about using AI remind me of our discussions of how to best utilize social media for nutrition communication in the early 2000s. AI feels a bit like the wild, wild west. It’s hard to keep up with how fast the AI landscape is changing, and it’s hard to know what to recommend.
In this week’s post, I will share content I am working on for inclusion in the updated version of Chapter 22, which will cover best practices for using AI in professional writing.
A helpful resource used in writing this content is Strategic Business Writing: A People-First Approach, by Kasie Roberson, PhD, a Clinical Assistant Professor at Purdue University’s Daniels School of Business.
Ways to ethically use AI in professional writing
Roberson suggests several ways to responsibly and ethically use artificial intelligence in business writing:
Brainstorming assistant to generate ideas
Helping structure writing by creating an outline
Generating potential first drafts
Revising writing by providing alternative phrasing and correcting grammatical errors
Creating visual support for your writing
Let’s look at how to use AI for each of these purposes.
Generating Ideas
The initial purpose, topic, and target audience for your writing should originate from human intelligence based on what you know about your audience and their needs.
If writer's block prevents moving forward, enlist the help of AI to get your creative ideas flowing. AI can help you brainstorm...
specific content to include,
how to present it,
examples to use,
supporting arguments that will be most persuasive,
illustrations that will be meaningful,
and even what to use for a title, and more.
AI can also assist in finding scholarly references about your topic. One tool useful for this purpose is Elicit, AI for academic research.
Outlining Content
AI can be very useful in providing organizational structure to writing projects. Creating outlines can be tedious work, which AI can simplify if given the necessary content to work with.
As with all AI-generated work, determine what fits your purpose and what is extraneous.
Writing Drafts
First drafts of emails, meeting agendas, memos, and many other types of professional writing, especially when they follow a standard template, can efficiently be drafted by AI. Rewrite the AI-generated first draft to maintain your voice and make sure the content is clear, complete, and concise.
Most other types of professional writing are best originated by human intelligence with AI support once the first drafts are written.
Revising and Editing
Enhancing a first draft can be one of the most useful ways to employ AI tools for writing. AI can suggest alternative phrasing, simplified terminology, audience-appropriate wording, and additional examples or illustrations.
AI can serve as a proofreader and check for grammatical errors. Much AI-generated writing is wordy, but when AI is directed to make writing more concise, it can be effectively used to produce clear writing within your word count.
Creating Visuals
Writing that is visually appealing is more effective. AI tools can enhance writing by creating graphic representations of your message, creating illustrations, infographics, and more. Graphic design tools with built-in templates can elevate your messages with ease.
Writing is hard work, and AI can help make it easier and more effective when used properly.
Cautions for using AI for professional writing
Writing is creative work. Allow AI to spur your creativity but not replace it. What you author should be your original ideas written in your unique voice.
Be transparent about using AI. Refer to your publication's or organization's guidelines for proper disclosure and credit for the use of AI for writing.
Beware! AI can be biased and inaccurate. Always check sources and watch out for opinions or falsehoods stated as facts, overgeneralizations, and oversimplifications.
Avoid uploading identifying or confidential information into AI tools. Err on the side of caution. Do not share anything with AI you wouldn't share with a stranger.
AI is only as effective as the prompts you provide. Next week’s post will describe what Roberson terms “Prompt Engineering.”
Check out these previous posts about using Artificial Intelligence:
“The future of AI is not about replacing humans, it’s about augmenting human capabilities.” ~ Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google
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