I am completely and utterly fed up with AI. I have just had a client say that a piece of content I wrote flagged up as AI-generated when checked on Quillbot. It absolutely was not partially written or generated by AI. Not one single piece of it. This is a good client and someone I have worked with for around five years. I offered to rewrite the article and record my screen as I typed it because I wanted them to see what it takes to write a humane written article. It was run through Quillbot again and it flagged up as 43% AI-generated (or 57% human-written, depending on how you look at it!) As I was chatting to my client about it, I was playing around with my content in the checker. I was curious what these checkers look for. My content had: ⚠ Sentences that were well structured. ⚠Syntactic complexity where sentence constructions varied ⚠There was context ⚠No repetition Then I popped in two full stops in two sentences and it went from 43% to 0% in the blink of an eye. I am blown away and infuriated at the same time. This kind of thing could cost me my business. I don't use checkers after writing my copy because why should I? I don't trust checkers simply because of situations like this and when two full stops completely change the results, how can anyone trust it? The writing industry is extremely challenging at the moment. I am seeing fellow writers with solid reputations in situations where they are looking for full-time employment. Things have gone from extremely good to extremely bad overnight. That is not an exaggeration, it is the reality of where we are right now. Has anyone else experienced this with checkers or have any thoughts on what the many checkers bring to the table? I am extremely keen to hear the thoughts of others because we need to begin standing up against these tools. AI is coming to take our jobs and the checkers are forcing us to prove our worth - how is that right? #writing #freelancewriting #AIcheckers #AI #contentwriting #content #articlewriting #freelancers #freelancing #business
It’s sad on a couple levels. First that this client that you’ve worked with and had good relationship with. Chose the what the ai was telling them over what you were telling them. Secondly if they are happy with the content handed over why question it or how it was created. You had a job to do and you delivered. Your process in getting there shouldn’t be a concern to them if the content works for the assignment. Do you charge on an hourly rate or on a project basis rate? If the former you’ve trained the client to think more about the time than the results. Something to think about in the future.
AI is still very much in its infancy and absolutely not reliable, to write or edit content. Well done for thinking to record your screen to prove you wrote your piece and how wrong AI can be. But it’s a sad day when you’ve had to do that and take time out of your schedule of paid work to do it 😞. I hope this doesn’t cause you any more hassle.
This is probably because for SEO ranking Google prioritises human written authenticity... The client does not want to lose what ever SEO rankings they have because of AI.
I also don't run my content through AI checkers, but maybe I should? It's terrifying that writing the way we always have can have such awful implications for our careers.
Why would anyone care if it was written by AI? They are paying you to make amazing work. If you make amazing work, the matter of how is irrelevant. Do we want people to be writing on stone tablets because it’s too easy to write with a keyboard and they are paying for blood sweat and tears and not great copy? The idea we need computers to evaluate the quality of writing is nuts. If a client can’t tell if it’s on brief and good quality ,and on brand and effective , they shouldn’t be a client. Dont get me wrong. I don’t think AI originated content is ever good enough. But I do think people who work hard to get the most out of AI, can get close to the craft of human originated work. But this is and of itself, a form of craft.
Unfortunately, most people will ride the AI wave unscrupulously for a couple of years to come. When Google is full of (fully or partly) AI-generated content, it will become less and less important whether you create content completely on your own or with the help of AI. Similarly, I think that for the next couple of years, the content industry will be hard to get into (if you're a novice) and stay afloat (if you're experienced). But as the AI hype fades away (not that it won't be used anymore but that it will be a perfectly normal part of the process), that's when good writers will be back in the game. This comes from a content writer with 7+ years of experience who has suffered quite a few setbacks because of AI. And still I use AI to speed up my process and still I get my content to be ranked high - and still that content attracts a ton of website traffic and leads. There's no going back - simple as that. And when it comes to AI detectors, everyone who fully relies on them is ignorant and refuses to see the whole picture (in my humble opinion). P.S. Don't let me be misunderstood, fully AI-generated content is out of the question, of course. Checking for facts and editing for tone of voice, conversions etc. are a MUST.
For clients that run these AI checks on your submited work - is that goal that nothing should be AI connected? Because where is the line drawn - Grammarly? Google searches? ChatGPT suggestions or outlines? And if an AI checker does indeed declare something has AI traits - why is the consequence not working with that PR contact anymore? I don't think any of us are suggesting we ask ChatGTP to write an op-ed, press release or thought leadership piece and submit it without giving it a read or edit. But as many things now have AI - assistance (including Google and Linked In) where do clients draw a line - and more important - will the audience do AI searches? will AI assistance cause an issue for the organization? I am learning how to use AI for all sorts of things and don't want the idea that any use of the technology is somehow cheating.
AI is not the problem here. The problem is that someone is using faulty software that incorrectly flags your writing as AI-generated simply because it is well-written. The other problem is that your client thinks well-written content is a problem if it might have been written with AI assistance. If it is well-written and does not plagiarize, why should the client care if AI assisted with it? Would your client complain if they bought a car and later discovered that the factory where it was made used robots on the assembly line? I use AI-generated code sometimes as a software engineer, and sometimes I use chatbots to help me draft work tickets or to assist with other writing tasks. AI is just a tool, like a calculator. Does anyone complain when someone uses a calculator to perform arithmetic? They would only complain if the calculator produced inaccurate or inferior results. That's how people should think about AI. Whether I am generating software code or English-language content, I wouldn't rely on AI to work perfectly without human review, because it isn't always 100% reliable, but it is still useful enough that I use it as a productivity enhancer.
AI is a tool. As a client, I should not care which tools you used to produce it. My focus should be the quality of the final product. So long as there is no plagiarism, all is good. One question that comes to my mind is why a client of five years is now checking that? My first degree was Translation and Interpreting 30+ years ago, people were saying how Google translator was going to replace translators. Fast forward 2024, my peers still translate. They just do it differently (often they are editors if language is sterile/scientific) and more efficiently (AI can help build word nomenclatures faster). And yet, literary work etc still requires their manual skill. Language/meaning are complicated. Creating engaging written pieces too. So i don't see AI replacing good writers any time soon. Once the hype subsides, and the tourist writers leave town there will be work for the pen masters :) (figuratively speaking ;)
Freelance Writer and Proofreader
2wNot sure if anyone has seen this but I have made another post on this based on the reach and engagement that this post has had - you can find it here - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7213960928688517120/?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(activity%3A7213960928688517120%2C7214177958591131648)&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A(7214177958591131648%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7213960928688517120)