I am not a fan of having articles written by AI alone. In my experience, it still works much better to think of these services as tools and assistants.
In that moment, they don’t do the work for you. Instead, they help you do certain tasks faster and more efficiently – including writing.
Here’s an example from my own work to illustrate how this can work.
What would have taken me four hours to complete took me only an hour and a half.
The starting point
Recently I noticed that my other project UPLOAD Magazin does not yet have an article that explains the typical content workflow in a generally understandable way. Such a workflow starts with finding ideas and topics, continues with content creation, and ends with distribution and success monitoring.
Here is the end result, automatically translated from German by Google.
Thanks to AI, I was able to implement this much faster than without it. I invested the time I gained in refining and improving the article, among other things.
I’m not interested in producing more content with AI. For me, it’s all about creating better content using AI.
Step 1: Capturing my thoughts
In the first step, I used the Mac’s built-in Voice Memo feature and spent about 20 minutes explaining off the top of my head what a content workflow looks like.
I’m not used to dictating. I’m more comfortable working on a text using a keyboard.
But in this case, I knew that my spoken tips, hints, and explanations would only serve as a foundation. The next step was for the AI to help me sort out my thoughts, which were not always completely linear.
Step 2: Passing the transcript to AI
In the next step, I used OpenAI’s Whisper to create a text from my recording. Apple’s Voice Memo can now do this as well, but currently only for English. Whisper did a good job.
I sent this transcript to Claude 3.5 Sonnet with the following request (original prompt is in German):
I need your help as a professional writer. I spoke freely for about 20 minutes about what a professional content workflow looks like. The target audience is primarily people who work in or are interested in content marketing. I want to show them what the workflow looks like when you do it professionally.
I recorded myself and then had it transcribed. I want to give you that transcript and then we will turn what I said into a how-to article.
The first thing you need to do is read the transcript and then make an outline. This outline should be detailed enough to briefly describe in keywords what should be covered in each sub-point.
We will then look at this outline together, adjust it if necessary, and finally create the actual text.
Here is the transcript:
This prompt is certainly not worthy of an award, but the result was perfect.
Important point: Claude’s work is based on my transcript. I don’t leave it to the AI to decide what appears in the article. After all, I have my own point of view and my own experiences, which should shape the article.
Step 3: Writing the article together
In the next and final step, I wrote the article together with Claude, point by point. This step-by-step approach makes it easier to control the AI. For example, I didn’t like some of the wording in the first piece of text. I told Claude what I had changed and gave him my revised version with the following note (again, translated from German):
Here’s how I revised your first draft. You can use this as a model for the next sections:
It worked well. For the next sections, I only had to change minor things. To be honest, they were corrections I often make to my own writing.
Both the tonality and the content were perfect right away, because Claude used my guidelines from the transcript and the revised text as a model.
Final thoughts
Without Claude’s help, it would have easily taken me four hours of work to create a first version of the article. With the help of my AI tools, I had it done in an hour and a half. This gave me the freedom to work even more on the copy and its design.
During this process, I had my hands on the wheel at all times. I didn’t “automate” my article. Instead, I used AI as a tool to work more efficiently, just as writing on a computer simplifies many things compared to a mechanical typewriter.
I can say with a clear conscience that the resulting article accurately reflects my opinions and experiences. I have provided the basis, I am responsible for the text.
Of course, some people will still object to such an approach. I am also sure that they have good arguments. I respect that. After all, I know the ethical, moral, and legal discussions surrounding AI all too well. I cover them regularly on this site.
Some other people may simply be purists. They don’t want any AI involved. I can understand that, too.
Last but not least, I am aware of the danger of relying too much on artificial assistants.
At the end of the day, I am a person who keeps an eye on the risks while focusing on the opportunities.