Am I AI?
AI. Artificial Intelligence. It’s taking over much of the creative processes in our world, and writing is no exception. I substitute teach at my son’s high school, and students are talking about writing essays during class periods so teachers can be sure no one is using AI. My son himself was accused of using some sort of AI for an English paper, only because his research and outlining methods were scattered. He was writing notes and portions of his paper in various places whenever he was working on it. He had bits in Google Docs on his iPad, he had another part in an app on his desktop at home, and yet another location he’d written in. Rather than re-writing it all in a single spot, he copied and pasted each section into the main document. RED FLAG!
Sadly, rather than speaking to him first to get his side, the overuse of AI had the teacher automatically assuming he used AI and was ready to mark him down without even receiving an explanation or proof. Thankfully, he was able to retrace his steps and show his thought and work process and the teacher accepted it, albeit still questioningly.
So, Am I AI? The short answer is no. I have a writing business where I write website and blog content for businesses. My name is not typically on the work since I’m ghost writing for these companies. However, with my 30 years of writing experience and 2 years of professional writing experience, my work takes on the perfectionism achieved by AI. I’ve never been accused by a client of using AI, and while I may need to research their industry to write with authority, I’ve never used AI.
This story comes from a client where one partner solicited a website build without consulting the other. The other partner had intended on building the site himself, and employing me to do the content writing. I hated missing out, but I understood. However, the partner who solicited the website neglected to have the website building company separate the two websites the company needed as their two businesses are unique enough from one another that each deserves its own site. I was once again commissioned to do the writing.
This previous website design company apparently had some sort of deal to use the client’s website as part of their portfolio for future clients to check out. An employee of that company logged on to find that the site had been changed, by the clients as well as myself posting blogs. They assumed the site had been hacked and their work had been replaced with a bunch of AI articles! I have a feeling they didn’t read these articles, as they all apply directly to the businesses and industry and aren’t “sample” or “placeholder” articles they had left.
I wanted to laugh, but also couldn’t help but be offended, too. It’s nice to know my work is perceived as so well-done it seems to be AI, but at the same time it’s insulting to both me and the client to assume the unique work on the website is AI because it wasn’t done by them.
To be clear, I’ve never used AI writing tools. Everything is mine, and if it’s not, I will site my sources. Have you had any incidents with AI accusations with your unique work? How did you handle it? Let’s talk on Facebook!