So, is it acceptable to use AI-generated content in your writing? My view is a qualified yes. Let me give you a couple of examples of what I consider to be unacceptable use of AI-generated content before discussing its ethical use.

A few months ago, I, along with many others, received a series of promotional messages for an automated eBook writing service. I was intrigued, and so I delved deeper to see how it worked. The basis of the system was a series of prompts that told it what the subject matter of the book was. The system then scavenged non-copyright material from the Internet, which it collated and formatted into an eBook. The only thing the “author” needed to do was to have the front and back covers designed and uploaded to the system and, hey presto! your eBook was created. There was minimal “author” input into the process.

The creators of this system were at pains to point out that it would not generate Pulitzer Prize winning prose, only that the output would be “good enough” for platforms such as Amazon’s Kindle.

To me, that is not an acceptable use of AI-generated content because it removed any creative effort on the part of the “author”.

A more blatant unacceptable use of AI recently arrived in my inbox in the form of a request to quote for proofreading a scholastic article. My correspondent boasted that the article had been created by artificial intelligence and that he wanted a guarantee that the edited version would be deemed likely to be human-written. In other words, he wanted a guarantee that it would pass a “Turnitin” test.

I declined the offer of work. What would you have done?

Ethical use of AI-generated content

I believe AI-generated content can be used ethically, even in academic writing.

All good writing, whatever the genre or purpose, starts with an idea that the author researches and refines. The author’s research notes are the basis of their first, rough, draft. I believe it is legitimate to use AI to help create that first draft.

Many author’s find that starting the first draft is the most difficult part of the writing process. Having artificial intelligence assist in creating the first rough draft could help some authors activate their creativity.

The advice given by may experienced authors about writing the first draft is simply to write and not be concerned about correct spellings or grammar. Artificial intelligence can assist with this phase of writing.

As the name suggests, the first draft is just your initial attempt.Of course, you will need to refine your draft including adding, deleting, and reorganizing sections, choosing the draft’s format and revising it if required. After several rounds of revisions, including grammar and spelling checks, and verifying the facts, your final draft will be unrecognizable from the first one. Artificial intelligence has played no part in the revision process that advances your original draft to the final version.

That does not mean that you cannot or should not use tools such as your word processor’s grammar and spell checker, Grammarly, or QuillBot to assist you to proofread each revision provided that, in the case of academic writing, you disclose that you have done so.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.