I need to talk about AI, AKA artificial intelligence. More specifically, I need to talk about AI in the writing sphere. I won’t even touch the art angle, since that is a can of worms already being deconstructed all over the interwebs. And I am specifically focusing on non-fiction writing since this website currently only publishes non-fiction.
Lakeandriverstudio.com has welcomed a variety of guest posts over the years at no charge to the guest businesses so long as they were family friendly and the article to be published was somewhat on-topic. This was a courtesy. Most websites this established charge a fee for guest posts, but I wanted to help out fellow small business owners.
Well, it is time to tighten up the criteria. I don’t want to be nit-picky, but some of the provided guest writing has taken on a particular flavor. The flavor of ChatGPT.
Now, I am not going to crap all over AI writing. AI is a tool. It has a time and place. I have to use it in my day job whether I like it or not. And since I have 20 years worth of blog articles all over the internet, it is likely that a lot of my content was used for AI training at some point. In fact, some of ChatGPT’s writing sounds very reminiscent of my writing from 2008, like, eerily so. And I am never going to stop using em-dashes just because they look AI-y.
However, back to the guest writing. There have been several submitted guest articles that have suspiciously looked and sounded all the same. They may be on-topic, but there is no human element. There is no story telling. More importantly, despite being advice-based articles, there are no actionable tips offered that are actually helpful instead of being overly vague gobbledygook. Instead of a tip for a specific craft, recipe, or event, the articles will suggest you “expose your children to diverse environments” or something similar with no additional information on what that might mean.
Now, we can all agree that formatting is not the problem. All helpful articles should have an introduction, statement, some paragraphs with subheadings outlining suggestions or solutions to a problem, and then a conclusion. That is not up for debate. However, there is definitely a lack of emotion and storytelling in these posts. My favorite types of guest posts are the kind that tell a personal experience in a more casual tone. Here is an example: What Cloth Diapering Taught Me. This article is in first person and reveals a little bit about the person who wrote it. And that is what I really want to showcase on this site: personal experiences, cool tutorials, first hand solutions to issues, or even a here-is-how-I-survive-life post.
Instead, we are being inundated with articles that have no voice, no personal anecdotes, and in desperate need of editing. Once again, I have no beef with AI as a writing tool, but please, PLEASE edit the article. If you need ChatGPT to give you a framework or an outline, that’s fine! Use it. But don’t just copy whatever it regurgitates out and send that along as your blog post. Use it as a starting point. Make an outline and add your own experiences. Use examples from your local community. Name specific people, places, and things, especially local ones. One of the reasons search engine optimization is getting so wonky is because there is too much AI generated content repeating itself all over websites in a vomitous pile of vagueness. Google updates are not helping. AI is bad at technical writing and requires a giant grain of salt. It is even worse at conversational writing that doesn’t sound like an alien trying to fit in with humans.
If you must use the tool, then use it wisely. Like I said earlier, I use it at my day job for multiple tasks. At the very least, it can be a jumping off point for spinning ideas. However, it cannot, no matter how good the prompts are, write a cohesive technical tutorial that is actually correct. Nor can it achieve this for a guest post for a blog. At least not on this blog. For tech writing we need accuracy. And for personal writing, we need it to be personal. This is a website for creatives and families, so it would be best if the guest articles were written by creatives, or at least edited by creatives.
All of this is to say, the policy for guest articles has been updated.
Due to an influx of AI generated guest articles, Lake & River Studio will require a business review before accepting articles. This will involve manually reviewing the brand, business website, or blog of the guest writer for subject and reputation approval. While we understand AI can be a valuable tool for writing articles, any submitted articles that appear to be unedited ChatGPT results will be sent back for editing and resubmission.
See, that’s not so bad.
What I really want you to submit? A studio tour! A story about your creative journey! Your favorite cocktail recipe. Heck, even a full-on promo of your latest painting. My most popular article on this site is about diaper rash cream. Which is hilarious.
If you have an idea for a guest article that is purely informational, that is perfectly fine, But please remember to edit out the obvious AI-isms before submission. Our personal voices and experiences are what stand between a dead internet and real people connecting over the internet. Plus….its boring.
I would love to hear you thoughts on this below, but the majority of the comments we receive are from spambots and deleted.
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