Discover 9 tips to refine AI text: enhance tone, correct errors, and optimize keywords. Master editing for a human touch in machine outputs.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) writing tools like ChatGPT have exploded in popularity recently. These tools can generate entire articles, stories, and other long-form content after being given just a simple prompt. The capabilities of large language models like GPT-3 and tools built on top of them seem to improve every few months.
While AI writing tools can churn out paragraphs of text with coherent grammar and structure, the output often lacks the nuance, voice, and depth that comes from human writing. AI tools may excel at summarizing data and information, but they don't necessarily provide analysis or insight. This is where the importance of editing AI content comes in.
With some targeted human editing, AI content can be transformed into high-quality, engaging reads. The key is knowing what aspects need a human touch. This allows writers and editors to focus their efforts efficiently to get the most out of AI writing.
One of the most important steps in editing AI content is to thoroughly read through the entire piece from start to finish. This allows you to get a bird's eye view of the overall flow and logic of the content.
As you read, look out for a few key things:
Don't rush through this initial read-through. Reading carefully from start to finish will equip you to make impactful structural and organizational changes in later edits. It also ensures you catch any glaring issues or inconsistencies. Invest time in this step for cleaner editing later on.
One of the biggest weaknesses of AI writing is factual accuracy. While AI systems can generate remarkably human-like content, they don't actually understand what they are writing about. This means any facts, statistics, names, dates or other details generated by the AI could potentially be wrong.
When editing AI content, carefully fact check any factual statements. Double check that names are spelled correctly, statistics match up with trusted sources, dates make sense, and details about people, places, events or products are accurate. AI cannot discern truth from fiction like a human editor can.
Some tips for fixing factual errors:
Fact checking may feel tedious, but it's essential for avoiding misinformation. AI-generated content should never be fully trusted at face value. With a thorough review, potential factual errors can be caught and corrected to uphold quality standards.
AI content can sometimes be overly verbose or lack cohesion between paragraphs and sections. As the editor, it's important to break up any long blocks of text and improve the overall structure and flow of ideas. Here are some tips:
With some structural edits, you can transform disjointed AI content into a cohesive piece shaped by logical flow and seamless transitions between ideas. This greatly improves the reading experience for audiences.
One way to make AI writing feel more human is to connect your paragraphs and sections with transitional phrases. This creates logical links between ideas and improves the flow of your content.
Some examples of good transitional phrases are:
When adding transitions, don't overdo it. You don't need a transition between every sentence or paragraph. Use them judiciously to highlight important connections.
Transitions help guide the reader through your text. They act like signposts that show how your ideas relate. Effective transitions make your content feel more cohesive, natural and human.
One common issue with AI-generated content is repetitive sentence structure. Multiple sentences in a row that follow the same subject-verb-object format can sound monotonous.
To add some variety and flow, try changing up sentence lengths and structures. Use simple and complex sentences, declarative and interrogative sentences, and try starting sentences with phrases like gerunds ("Walking down the street, John noticed...") or participial phrases ("Broken into pieces, the vase lay on the floor...").
You can also vary sentence openings by sometimes using the subject first, and other times starting with a prepositional phrase or a dependent clause. For example:
Avoiding too many sentences that follow the same repetitive structure makes the writing more engaging and pleasant to read. The variety helps carry the reader through the content.
One of the biggest differences between AI writing and human writing is personality. AI text can often feel robotic and impersonal. As the editor, you can breathe life into the content by adding some colorful language, metaphors, wit or humor where appropriate. Look for opportunities to showcase your own writing style. However, be careful not to overdo it or add too much flavor text. A sprinkle of personality can connect with readers, but too much artificiality may seem off-putting or non-genuine. Focus on small touches that liven up the text. For example, instead of "The reader may find this information useful," try "Peruse this handy guide to pick up some editing tricks." Have fun putting your mark on the content while maintaining an appropriate tone. Just a bit of your own flair can transform plain AI text into an engaging read.
AI-generated content can sometimes be unnecessarily wordy or convoluted. While AI systems are trained on massive data sets and can mimic human writing styles, they don't always have a robust understanding of clarity and concision.
As the human editor, it's important to tighten overly verbose sentences and boil down meandering phrases. Look for opportunities to simplify complex clauses into shorter, more direct statements. Target filler words like "really," "basically," "quite," etc. that don't add substantive meaning. Convert passive voice constructions into active voice.
For example, rework a phrase like "It was opined by the author that the software update could potentially result in improvements in processing speed" to simply "The author believed the software update may improve processing speed." Doing a quick word or character count on a section can help identify areas where you can condense further.
With some selective tightening, you can make the copy punchier and more readable without losing meaning. Removing fluff improves flow and keeps the reader engaged.
It's important to ensure the AI content fits the appropriate tone and voice for your brand and intended audience. Even if the facts are accurate, the wrong tone can undermine credibility or confuse readers.
Read through the content and ask yourself - does this sound like something we would publish on our own website? Is the tone consistent throughout or does it veer into too casual or informal at times?
Tone can be tricky for AI to get right, especially for different audiences. What works for a younger demographic may sound off-putting to an older group. Make sure the tone aligns with your target readers.
Also look at brand voice. Does the content sound like it was written specifically for your company? The word choice and style should reflect your brand personality and values. While you don't want the tone to sound overly salesy or promotional, it still needs to feel aligned with your brand.
Look for any examples of language that feel too conversational, hyperbolic, opinionated, or emotionally charged. While those elements can work well in small doses for blogs, they may undercut the authority and professionalism you want for informative content like this.
Aim for a tone that feels authoritative yet approachable. The content should help readers, not impress them. Keep tweaking wording until you strike the right tone that builds trust with your audience.
When writing content, it's important to cite your sources, especially for any statistics, quotes, or facts that you include. Properly citing sources lends credibility and authority to your work.
For online content, it's common practice to link directly to your source in the text or provide the URL at the bottom of the article. Here are some examples of how to cite sources in markdown:
You can also create a "References" section at the end to list your sources:
Properly citing sources demonstrates that research and effort went into creating the content. It allows readers to verify facts and quotes, and enables the author to build authority as a subject matter expert.
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