There’s been a lot ado about AI currently, particularly since ChatGPT was released to the general public in November 2022. Since then, we’ve seen an inflow of ideas and instruments across the subject and the usage of AI.

We like AI right here at Buffer – we’ve even launched an AI Assistant to assist our viewers create content material higher and quicker. Nonetheless, we perceive its limitations, particularly in the case of creation, higher than most. We additionally perceive the (legitimate) considerations that many creatives and entrepreneurs have concerning the impression of AI on the standard of content material.

So regardless that we use AI in our processes on Buffer’s Content material staff (there are solely three of us, and it helps us work extra effectively), we wished to make clear precisely how and the place we use AI in our work.

Our historical past with AI

We’ve been enjoying round with completely different AI instruments for a number of months, and it reveals in our content material archive from the previous 12 months.

The primary article from Buffer about AI went stay in Might 2022 to reply the query, “Should you be using AI for content creation?” Reflecting on this text is fascinating as a result of our stance then and now is similar – let it deal with the small stuff, so you possibly can higher deal with the massive, artistic work.

Our curiosity in AI has solely grown since then, as ChatGPT went public, we printed a number of articles mentioning AI on the weblog, and we launched an AI Assistant.

Spending time with the completely different instruments powered by AI has allowed us to outline our boundaries higher. Because of this, we have already got unwritten guidelines round AI in content material. Nonetheless, a sample emerged in two current occasions that prompted us to ask ourselves: how will we let folks know our stance on AI?

The primary was our newest (now closed) hiring run for a Content material Author. This article goes into extra element, however a shocking quantity of purposes have been accomplished utilizing AI. Our understanding of the everyday AI-generated content material helped us establish these purposes, however it was prevalent sufficient to spotlight.

The second occasion is ongoing – our recently launched Guest Post Program. The thought of this system is to open up the Buffer weblog to data tales from creators and small enterprise house owners. We wish expert writing that feels private and leaves our viewers feeling like they’ve realized one thing helpful. However, once more, many pitches that come by way of are AI-generated with little to no enhancing. All of them adopted the identical construction we’ve recognised from AI-generated solutions, particularly these created in ChatGPT.

Regardless of the hypothesis that AI is a ticking time bomb for folks in artistic industries, we beg to vary. No instrument can change the human thoughts and its capability to create artwork that connects deeply. Additionally, it’s price remembering that AI is simply an in depth language-learning mannequin. It makes inferences from what you inform it and its restricted financial institution of data to carry out what a number of folks have known as “spicy autocomplete”. It’s a instrument – solely pretty much as good as the one who wields it.

So, sure, we needed to take the time to make clear our stance as a result of whereas it’s nice, it’s not changing any of us any time quickly.

Our method to AI in content material

Listed below are the 4 statements that cowl 90 p.c of how we consider using AI in content material.

• AI assists however doesn’t change
• AI by no means writes full drafts or paragraphs with out being edited by a human
• AI content material is at all times reviewed for accuracy
• We don’t consider AI can change artistic work in any sense

The Content material staff’s expertise with AI

Buffer’s Content material staff contains three individuals who handle the staff’s blogs, social media, PR, and different content material and communication-related wants. The dimensions of our staff versus our tasks usually means we should flip down sure initiatives and alternatives. We have to prioritize, however on the finish of the day, content material and social are high priorities for our staff, to allow them to’t be put apart.

Adopting AI instruments has allowed us to release extra time to discover these alternatives and collaborate with different groups extra successfully. For instance, the primary edits are executed with Grammarly as an alternative of considered one of us to catch probably the most seen errors in grammar and punctuation. This permits us to give attention to deeper-level construction, voice, and tone enhancing. I take advantage of Otter loads to report interviews. It joins my Zoom calls and makes tough notes – which means I don’t have to start out listening and transcribing from scratch. It even offers a abstract of every name.

Exterior of AI-heavy instruments, a few of our different assets have AI included into them like

• Threads, which we use for inner communication
• Notion, which we use for data administration
• Canva, for designing social media posts and weblog graphics
• and even Buffer.

AI’s an inevitable a part of our course of, and whereas we might select to not use these instruments, we’d all be much less efficient for it.

What we use AI for

We use AI for essential, time-consuming duties {that a} nonhuman can do.

• To proofread writing and verify for grammatical errors
• To unlock inspiration earlier than attending to the analysis course of
• To assist with outlines
• For creating templates
• For arising with interview questions
• For suggesting title concepts
• For the primary draft of social posts
• To repurpose present content material for a number of channels
• To make our content material extra related for a hyper-specific viewers

What we’re not utilizing AI for

We don’t and can by no means use AI to

• Analysis as a result of it’s improper most of the time
• Totally draft articles or write full paragraphs inside our drafts – we use AI purely as a associate in brainstorming and writing
• Create remaining posts for social media
• Develop any visible content material – we solely use actual photos from small companies and creators they submit themselves or from Unsplash.

Actual methods we’ve been utilizing AI

The Content material and broader Advertising groups view AI as a associate – and we’ve initiatives as proof. For a bit extra of the sensible facet of how we method AI, listed below are a number of the public methods we’ve been utilizing it.

The social posts experiment

Our social media supervisor, Mitra, shared the outcomes of her experiment of writing social posts with AI.

Mitra highlighted that AI didn’t make a distinction within the efficiency of the content material and even used phrases that she would by no means use. Nonetheless, Mitra gave the thought an A-plus for creating captions on days with out inspiration.

Lunch and study

I introduced a lunch and learn on AI for the broad Advertising staff at Buffer, sharing how I’ve been utilizing it in my work.

Social media glossary

We lately launched a Social Media Glossary that resulted from months of exhausting work and cross-functional collaboration on the Advertising staff.

It may need taken us longer to finish, however utilizing AI minimize the time we spent determining what to write down underneath every time period and learn how to write it in half. We developed a immediate that helped us fill out the essential define of every time period inside our Glossary that we used as the muse for every phrase.

We additionally thought of the impression of AI-only content material on the efficiency of the web page and its effectiveness for the reader. So, we spent quite a lot of time enhancing and including extra assets to extend the worth searchers would get from spending time on every web page.

Localizing all the Buffer web site

We’ve been engaged on a mission to localize the Buffer web site to different languages, beginning with Spanish – and AI has helped us notice most of it.

In fact, we’re utilizing a human translator to double-check our work, however we have been capable of do the majority of the preliminary translation because of AI.

What’s subsequent for AI on Buffer’s Content material staff

The place will we go from right here? To be sincere, not a lot else goes to vary for us. Principally we’ll preserve attempting new instruments and implementing them once they make sense. We’ve been utilizing AI instruments in our course of for months, and it’s helped us do our work higher and higher.

In sharing this we hope to assist content material groups and content material creators who’re interested by defining the place AI has or ought to have of their artistic course of. Tell us the way it goes!