An article writer - but better than most...?
Not all AI tools are built the same way - here's how to get more out of the tools you create with AI.
Today I made a GPT that can write articles. I know what you’re thinking (“…yawn, big deal, ChatGPT can do that with a simple “write me an article about…” instruction).
But here’s the thing - whilst you could do that, the output isn’t likely to be very good.
Even if you’ve added a “You’re an experienced article writer” (or similar wording) at the start of the prompt, the AI is trying to do an entire process in one go.
One way of making AI work smarter is by breaking down the process and making sure that each step of the process is given as much care and thought as the previous part.
So when creating this GPT I first got it to create the template output and then break down the individual actions that would go into writing the article, so:
Researching the information
Creating a title
Creating an opening paragraph
Coming up with actionable advice
Having a conclusion
Edit the article to make it better
Creating Keywords.
Having broken down each part I was able to give more context:
The information should be researched from reliable sources (giving examples of established publications) and should include facts that can be verified, so the source should be provided.
I want a catchy title than doesn’t look like clickbait and is based on the substance of the article
I want the opening paragraph to take a view (not some vague “on the one hand, on the other hand” prevarication that looks like a lawyer wrote it…). I’d like to check it before the rest of article is written.
Actionable advice is what I read any article for, so I want this to be succinct, with a conclusion that makes sense.
And because any first draft can almost always be made better by editing (including editing by the same AI that wrote it) I want the AI to do that too.
Keywords are usually obvious, but it would be good to have these.
By breaking down the parts and adding context to each bit I was able to create a tool that takes each step one by one and also takes care with each step. This was a longer prompt to write but the end product should hopefully be a tool that produces consistent results.
The same process (of breaking down an individual process, or “workflow” into its constituent parts) can be applied to any business process. I put this together live on a workshop where others created tools relevant to their own businesses - whether that was onboarding customers, providing customer support or marketing outreach.
If you’d like to break down the process of creating workflows for your business I’d be delighted to help. Do drop me a line.
Meanwhile you might want to start here:
Also you can try the tool out for yourself here.