The role of human editors: amid the struggle for content quality

Following the famous advice: edit ruthlessly, do you think machines can be sufficiently ruthless?

As artificial intelligence (AI) crawls into the realm of writing and editing, it is interesting to watch if AI-led editing tools can truly match the depth of quality that skilled editors can provide.

Unless producing content is merely a ritual to affirm digital shibboleth, companies that value their audience's brand experience also care about their content's quality. And content quality is a result of human sentience and ingenuity.

Beyond fixing grammar and punctuation, editing aims to elevate the draft's quality through a vigorous process to create the best version of a document. This may involve cutting words, sentences, paragraphs, and sections that a writer may have toiled over for days and months.

Writing is a creative process of thinking while pouring ideas on paper, not putting a bunch of words together to sound mechanically right.

And, editing is refining the draft with a clear-sighted and dispassionate eye — to eliminate any mismatch between the aim of the draft and its result.?

Now,

The question is: can AI replace skilled editors?

Undoubtedly, AI-powered editing tools have changed “how” we create content. But it has not yet transformed "what" we do as writers and editors.

These tools are extremely valuable for summarising content and correcting grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes, among numerous other benefits.

However, this may not cover the full extent of what quality means.

Why human editors are irreplaceable?

• Specialisation: Editors often bring specialised knowledge to their areas, industries and fields of work. A technology editor may not be suited to edit a romantic novel, for example.
• Quality assurance: Editors not only maintain content standards but also align them with style guides and tone of voice, ensure factual accuracy, refine syntax, and bring structural elegance, style and presentation.
• Creative insight: Editors' abilities far surpass AI tools in suggesting creative changes based on an understanding of the purpose of the writing and its audience.
• Consultative methods: Editors, when faced with any doubt, can consult writers they are editing the draft for, pose queries and seek clarifications; actions that tools cannot yet perform.
• Ethical considerations: Editors prevent plagiarism, keep the content authentic, and maintain the highest ethical standards.

Whether an editor uses AI-led editing tools or sticks to their traditional methods, machines now play an invaluable role. Yet, they cannot fully match the human touch that transforms a stodgy piece into evocative prose.

Editing is an immersive process where an editor dives deep into the essence of the message to make a meaningful connection with the reader — hopefully a long-lasting one.

While machines are good at some parts of the editing process, they do not yet have the craftsmanship to shape words to spark a meaningful human-to-human connection.

In the crowded content landscape, where brands struggle to capture audience attention with high-quality content, artificial intelligence aids the superficial clean-up.

But it is the human editors who remain the guardians of high-quality content.

Like absorbing content insights? Read perspectives on content by Kadambini Rana:

1. A Roadmap to Content Strategy - Spotlight on fundamentals
2. How to scale your content effectively
3. My Top 10 Tips on Writing
4. Reimagine Content - Harness the power of your existing content