How can writers protect their work in the age of artificial intelligence

Optimize Your Domain Expertise

The rise of text-generating artificial intelligences, such as Chat GPT, has many writers concerned. These tools can indeed produce quality content at high speeds. So, how can human writers protect the value of their work and stand out in the face of these new challenges?

The strength of AIs lies in their ability to quickly assimilate massive volumes of data and varied textual examples. They then deduce linguistic rules and patterns to generate new texts. However, they still struggle to match the deep expertise of a true domain specialist.

As a writer, one of your key competitive advantages lies in your deep domain knowledge. Therefore, focus foremost on your unique expertise in your niche to create high-value content.

Become a recognized and respected voice in your field by continually enhancing your edge over the competition. Never rest on your laurels, continually upgrade your skills, stay current with news, and expand your network of experts.

No matter how advanced an artificial intelligence is, it will always find it challenging to compete with a truly expert and seasoned human writer who fully grasps their topic and knows precisely what they’re discussing.

Humanize Your Writings

Another Achilles’ heel of writing AIs: the texts they generate, while syntactically correct and well-structured, often lack soul. The style comes across as impersonal and cold – robotic, one might say.

This is a major competitive advantage for you. Humanize your articles as much as possible, infusing them with your unique personality. Dare to use a more quirky, humorous, or emphatic tone when appropriate.

Don’t hesitate to draw extensively from your personal or professional experiences, sharing lived anecdotes, memories, and concrete examples. This establishes a powerful emotional connection with the reader, a bond that no AI can spontaneously recreate.

Clearly convey in your writings your deep motivation and genuine passion for the topics you’re covering. Why did you choose them? What drives you? Let your inner beliefs shine through your writing.

Offer Unique Angles

Sure, AI writers excel at compiling, rephrasing, or expanding on pre-existing ideas and content. Their strength lies in their ability to analyze and make connections and variations based on what already exists.

However, they still struggle to spontaneously offer truly unique angles or innovative approaches that venture off the beaten path.

As a human writer, you retain a clear creative edge over machines on this front. Train your mind to consistently find fresh, even iconoclastic, perspectives on your subjects.

Surprise your readers by daring to approach well-trodden topics in unconventional, provocative, or even radical ways. Break away from conventional analyses by imagining perspectives no one has explored yet. Be bold and discerning.

Also, diversify the formats of your content: in-depth investigations, extensive interviews, sharp opinion pieces, ultra-concise practical lists, detailed long-reads, impactful data visualizations… A good human writer stands out through versatility.

Personalize for the Reader

Another limitation of artificial intelligences is their chronic difficulty in personalizing content for a specific reader or target audience. Their outputs often come across as too generic, veering towards a “one size fits all” or standardized content.

Remember, writing is foremost a deeply human art and profession, catering to distinct individuals with unique expectations. As a flesh-and-blood writer, always remember that you have this prime advantage over the impersonal machine.

Constantly tailor your tone, angle, and overall message based on your target audience. Adjust language level, rhythm, and style depending on whether you’re addressing niche experts or the general public.

Address your readers directly, using “you” to create a rapport. Employ both formal and informal tones as appropriate. The art of writing is skillfully addressing someone in particular, something AIs are still wholly incapable of.

Bank on Analysis and Contextualization

While AIs can certainly compile and synthesize information impressively, their strength lies in rapidly absorbing raw data and automating content generation from it.

However, they still struggle to place this information within a coherent global context. AI can mechanically list facts but lacks the perspective and depth to analyze them meaningfully.

As a human, you retain this crucial advantage: the ability to step back and place facts within a broader analysis. Give meaning to information by finely contextualizing it.

In your articles, don’t merely stack facts. Analyze them by fitting them into the broader context that makes them meaningful. Delve into the causes and effects of observed phenomena. Place them historically in a chronological dimension.

Especially, add depth to your writings by invoking the most pertinent concepts, theories, and analytical frameworks. Show that you master the intrinsic complexity of your subject, whereas AI merely skims its surface.

Enhance the Educational Value

Lastly, to effectively impart knowledge to your readers, nothing beats the pedagogical skills of an experienced human writer.

Structure your content very didactically, with partial summaries, concrete examples, explanatory diagrams or visuals, boxed summaries, glossaries, and other editorial tools that help the reader grasp the essentials.

Within a single text, vary the levels of information, difficulty, and complexity, catering to all audiences. Alternate between basic and more sophisticated discussions. Skillfully employ the maieutic technique of question and answer, guiding the reader in their learning.

Where artificial intelligence often merely lists raw facts, a skilled human writer organizes and sequences them to educate effectively. You’re not just informing; your mission is also to intellectually elevate your audience. This contribution can’t be improvised and demands pedagogical experience and talent.

Despite the tremendous rise of artificial intelligences, many competitive advantages still exclusively belong to human writers. Hone your expertise, humanize your texts, dare to be original in your angles, and bank on contextual and pedagogical analysis. Your creative mind still has a bright future ahead, standing tall against the machine devoid of human spark.