Using ChatGPT to assist with content creation

There’s a LOT of hype around the newish AI tool ChatGPT since its release in late 2022. Most talk I have seen is around using it to generate content, Google trying to detect content generated by it, sites banning content generated by it, and teachers trying to catch assignments generated with ChatGPT. The list goes on and will continue to do so.

As a content creator, why should I care?

To a writer, a blank page or screen is one of the scariest things to look at. “I don’t know where to start.” Can ChatGPT be used for content generation? Well, sorta. It certainly can generate words on a screen for a given topic in a specific style you ask it to. Is that a good thing? Well, that’s one of the things being discussed in many circles.

I am not ready to give ChatGPT human traits just yet. I think using it to generate content is not ok. I have done extensive testing with ChatGPT generating written blogs, web pages, and essays in my area of professional expertise and interest, caching technologies, databases, NoSQL databases, and Serverless development. There are times when the text generated is flat-out wrong. Worse yet is I have seen multiple cases where ChatGPT creates writings in such a way as to sound authoritative on that topic. So it can be wrong, AND it does so in a manner that may be convincing to someone who is not already knowledgeable on the subject. That’s a dangerous combination! I write, edit, and speak for part of my living, but some of these errors took me a bit to spot, even after multiple readings. So be careful what you use from ChatGPT.

How can we use this new tool in the toolbag?

An excellent use for ChatGPT, and where I have found a lot of value, is with the ideation phase of content creation. Well, let’s ask ChatGPT to create an outline. Not the content, but an outline so I am not staring at a blank screen.

Here is an example of what I have done and had success with. Ask ChatGPT:

“Generate 20 clickbaity blog post titles about ‘what is serverless application development”

Once you have this list of twenty, go through and read all titles at least once. Then start revising, editing, and condensing the list from twenty to ten. Once you are down to ten solid blog post titles, you have a content plan for ten solid blogs to do over time. Now ask ChatGPT for an outline for the first topic on your list. “Generate an outline for a blog post about ‘Mastering Serverless: How to Build Scalable, Fault-Tolerant Applications”.

Yet again, what is generated will not be perfect immediately. You will likely have to massage that outline, but more than likely, ChatGPT just got you 80% or more of the way to a great outline. Better yet, you’re not starting with a blank screen, banging your head against a wall, and/or procrastinating. In less than 5 minutes, you are WAY further along with that writing piece than you would be otherwise. Then I take each section in the outline and start writing about that topic like I would any other time I create a blog or video.

Is this AI-generated content? Nope. Did I use this new tool to my advantage? Heck yes! Should you too? Absolutely!

Side note as I know someone will ask. No, I did not use ChatGPT to create any of the text in this post.

The next post will be about how I use ChatGPT for better SEO on content. If you’re a content creator and not paying attention to SEO for your content, you might as well not create it, as people will likely not be able to find it.