3 tips for keeping a unique voice in AI-assisted writing

Using AI in your writing can make you sound the same as everyone else, which you don’t want.

Communicators need to address this risk, said Karen Freberg, professor of strategic communications at the University of Louisville.

“If we all are using AI, we’re all sounding like each other,” Freberg said during Ragan’s Writing Certificate course. Don’t avoid using it, but integrate new standards, she said.

Here are three ways communications teams can protect their voice while using AI.

A brand voice guide might  describe an organization as friendly, bold or conversational. But broad descriptions don’t give AI tools enough direction.

Freberg recommends creating a “voice bank” that includes phrases the organization uses often, words it avoids and signature sentence structures.

She used Liquid Death as an example. The water brand uses strong, sometimes irreverent language that fits its identity. Unlike other water brands, words like “refreshing” or “hydrating” would sound out of place.

“You never have the soft wellness, very fluffy language,” Freberg said. “Absolutely not. That is not Liquid Death.”