Around this time every year, I get the itch to write. I don't know what it is, but probably the rolling over of the calendar to a new year gets me reflecting and looking forward. All this introspection makes me want to document and process through the written word.
I've kept journals on and off throughout my life, usually pulling one out when I need to vent or dump strong feelings onto the page. Journaling is my form of meditation. Whenever I do it, my mind feels more clear and my emotions come back toward baseline. That's why one of my goals for this year is to get back into journaling -- consistently. For me, this means a minimum of twice a week, but as often as the mood strikes me.
Journaling is my time to externalize any and every thought or idea that comes to mind. The words flow until my notebooks have that wonderful crinkly quality of many filled pages. When it comes time to do the same thing on the digital page, I'm greeted with a tempting message.
"Create with AI! Write and publish posts faster with AI tools."
Hmm... As someone who struggles with publishing "enough" content on a regular basis, the offer is enticing. But, will my blog suffer if I start using AI to crank out more posts? Will my website be put into internet jail for lacking authenticity? Will I get cancelled for having robotic-sounding articles and scripts?
I decided to do some Googling.
A quick search showed me my concerns weren't entirely unfounded, but were somewhat blown out of proportion. There are definitely some benefits of using AI to create content if done correctly. For someone like me, who runs all my social accounts and this website alone, AI can help me get more work done and publish consistently (the biggest challenge in my business).
What I realized is there are two main categories of content I create for this blog: thought pieces and informational.
Thought pieces are posts like this one, where the entire point is to share my personal views or ideas on a topic. These are original and can't be generated by AI.
Informational posts are my guides, how-to's, listicles, and itineraries. While they still rely on and are enhanced by input from my own experience, they generally include information you can find on any number of other blogs. These are much easier, and possibly worthwhile, to create using AI.
I've been staunchly against using AI to generate my content, only pulling it out for idea generation on occasion. This examination of its usefulness made me realize there's really no reason not to take advantage of this tool, instead of getting left in the dust by everyone else who already is.
Informational pieces don't spark joy for me to write, don't need to be creatively written in my exact voice, and can (mostly) be drafted by AI since the information already exists elsewhere on the internet. It's still important to me that all my articles remain true factually and true to myself, so each will be thoroughly edited, amended, and personalized by me before publishing.
Once I have the outline for an informational article, it's basically mindless work to fill in the rest and format it nicely for the blog. I'm hoping to find that by providing enough detail in my prompts (such as all the bullet points for a listicle article), my AI-assisted posts will simply have the grunt work taken out of them.
This is great for rapidly pushing out useful and highly searchable content to the world wide web. More content for the blog and more resources for curious minds to find. Win-win!
Thought pieces, on the other hand, are where I draw the line with AI. There are two main purposes behind this blog:
Providing helpful information to get people spending more time outdoors.
Sharing my experiences and serving as an online journal of sorts.
The latter can't be taken over by superlatively intelligent thinking computers, regardless of how advanced they become. Nothing can replace the human touch and sentiment behind personal sharing. The struggles and vulnerability and bliss cannot be fabricated. And that's what makes it so special.
In a world that's being taken over by cookie cutter content, regurgitating ideas, and manic trend-chasing, producing original content is an act of defiance. It's saying, "I can't be replicated. My thoughts can't be manufactured. And my voice is still valuable."
Embrace the future and use tools that help move you forward. Be discerning and genuinely evaluate what feels right for you before jumping on every bandwagon. Find balance and never underestimate the power of authenticity, especially in todays world.
If you've made it this far, leave me a "hi" in the comments! Let me know your thoughts on the use of AI in online content.
Thank you for reading. See you here next time.
Happy adventuring,
A
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