Clients and students often ask for my opinion about whether they can or should use artificial intelligence (AI) in their writing and editing work. Sometimes they want to know whether I use AI in my editorial work with their manuscripts.
Generative AI
Do I use AI?
Simply put, no. The services I provide use my own intellectual abilities, and what I have learned through my education and over more than three decades of professional writing and editing.
Now, I’m not dismissing the potential usefulness of AI, but there are technical, practical, financial and ethical issues to consider if you are thinking about using AI in your writing or editing work.
What is AI?
It’s important to clarify what we mean when we’re talking about AI.
On the one hand, there’s the regular software programs writers use to create their manuscripts (like Scrivener and Microsoft Word), and these programs sometimes also include AI tools such as Copilot in Word. Professionals sometimes purchase add-on tools such as PerfectIt to help them find common errors in grammar and to ensure consistency in spelling, punctuation and so on. We might refer to these as ‘traditional AI’ tools.
On the other hand, there are AI-specific programs designed to help the user generate content, including text, images and video. These we refer to as ‘generative AI’ (GenAI) tools. There are now many thousands of different models and applications of GenAI. ChatGPT and BERT are text-based models of GenAI that can be used to generate new text, based on your request, or prompt. Dall-E is a model of GenAI that generates images from your (text) prompt. Jukebox and Wavenet are models of GenAI that generate audio video, and so on.
Read about how to differentiate between traditional AI and generative AI.
Tips for corporate writers and content creators
If you are producing corporate communications and documents, such as daily correspondence, media releases, announcements and reports, you may find it helpful to generate new content using GenAI tools. Check that your employer or client permits you to use such tools in the course of your work for them.
If you are writing content from scratch (i.e. without AI), then at the basic level you might decide to turn on autocorrect and/or ‘editing’ functions in Microsoft Word. When you have completed your draft, add-in tools such as PerfectIt and Hemingway can be used to check consistency in spelling, punctuation and formatting – make sure that the language setting is suitable for your intended audience (e.g. Australian English, Canadian English). You may also be able to specify your preferred style guide (e.g. Australian Style Manual).
As you gain competence with these tools, you might experiment in using them to assist in correcting grammar and styling syntax, such as using active or passive voice, or checking for sentence length and complexity. The reading-level scores in some of these applications may not be suitable, so ensure you have a deep knowledge of your audience’s demographics and read the available literature on how these scores work in the software.
Tips for non-fiction writers
If you are writing long-form manuscripts, such as research reports, essays and books for publication to markets in the academic, professional, education and trade sectors, you may wish to use the autocorrect and other settings in programs such as Microsoft Word.
Remember, however, to check your own work – these programs and tools may pick up spelling errors but they won’t enhance readability or comprehension, such as differentiating between homophones (e.g. the difference between ‘foreword’ and ‘forward’). Analysis of factual information, such as the social implications of a policy statement, still requires human expertise to ensure accuracy, useability and comprehension.
Should you turn on AI?
Many of the programs and tools mentioned on this page allow users to turn on their AI functions. Others have GenAI built in.
Make sure you understand what this means in terms of copyright ownership of the work you are creating, and check with your employer or publisher that using AI is permitted. The European and International Booksellers Federation has recently released a Charter on Artificial Intelligence. Other countries may soon follow suit, so ensure you understand the implications and potential consequences for your creative writing and publications.
Seek advice from a qualified legal practitioner who has the requisite experience.
The Australian Society of Authors provides a member advice service, including contract reviews.
Copyright Licensing New Zealand provides a legal service for creators in Aotearoa.
Research on use of GenAI in fiction
From late 2023, I have been working with three colleagues to investigate the use of GenAI in the creation and development of literary fiction. Early results from our first experiments were publicised in the industry newsletter Books+Publishing in November 2023 and February 2024, and in The Conversation. The study was formally published in the journals AI and Ethics and New Writing, and our findings were further elucidated in Island magazine in 2025. I recommend you read these publications for an exploration of the practical and ethical issues in using GenAI in developing fiction.
Fiction writers, editors and translators
From this research and my continuing editorial work with authors and editors of fiction and narrative non-fiction, my own conclusion is that current models of GenAI are not yet suitable for optimal work in developing creative literary works. Some of the problems I have witnessed have been diabolical – such as texts with no obvious spelling errors, and that are apparently correct, technically and grammatically, but lacking the depth, sentiment, vitality and flair of the human writer.
A colleague described fiction generated by GenAI as ‘weirdly lifeless’, and I agree. For the professional engaged to edit such works, it is difficult and time-consuming; some problems created by GenAI can only be resolved by rewriting, which is expensive and defeats the creative goals of the author. When a writer entrusts their work to a professional editor, they are mostly concerned that we should maintain their ‘voice’, but where is the author’s voice in a text generated by an AI tool?
These problems are exacerbated when they result in an economic headache: it takes longer to rewrite a text than to edit it. Which means that – for now – using GenAI to create and develop literary fiction is a false economy. And possibly harmful to the author’s future and potential writing career.
Risks of using AI
There may be several risks in using AI (particularly GenAI) to create and develop your own original work for submission, payment or assessment.
The format of your own original work may be:
a manuscript for submission to a literary agent or publisher
an essay, thesis or exegesis for assessment
a review, essay, report or article as a paid assignment.
Risks of using GenAI in these contexts may include:
loss of copyright – i.e. can you really call it your own work?
charges of plagiarism, passing off and inadequate citation
having your work ingested into the AI tool to contribute towards its database and training (check terms and conditions of use).
Perhaps most dire for our industry is the risk that writers will turn to GenAI tools as cheap alternatives to engaging a professional editor. This is more than a loss of work and jobs; it goes to the very core of the author–editor relationship: the trust and confidence writers seek in their relationship with their editor, ‘beyond the development of a single manuscript’.
There may be other risks we are not yet aware of.